FACTORYVILLE, Pa. — The Lackawanna Trail School board voted 7-2 Monday night to allow students to return to school in person.
Parents were asked to take three separate surveys for the district to get as much feedback about the four return options proposed and other safety and health concerns.
"They feel that getting an education for their children in the Lackawanna Trail School District works best when they're in the brick and mortar. It works best when they're with their own teachers in a physical setting. Of course, we wouldn't do that if we couldn't do it safely," said Lackawanna Trail School District Superintendent Matt Rakauskas.
The school district has about 1,000 students and about 20 percent of them will not be returning in person.
"Knowing that more than 200 out of 1,000 wouldn't come back, it got us really close to a hybrid number, in other words, that it would be a total reopen but there will be so few students in each building."
Dee Atkins is a parent who isn't comfortable with her son going back in person.
"I'm nervous about it. He's been home since March when all this started happening. I'm kind of scared about it. I'm pretty sure he's going to cyber school for the first semester at least," said Atkins.
"I would like to go back to school to sit in front of the teacher. That'd be pretty fun because I can see my friends but I'm fine with cyber school because I won't get distracted and just learn better," Tanner Atkins said.
This full reopening plan isn't set in stone. The superintendent says they have other options in case problems arise.
"It is flexible. It's going to be hard to do in a snap, but we'll be prepared to pivot if need be," Rakauskas said.
"I'm sure that any plan they're trying to put in place is going to be a good one. It's just that it's still very scary," Atkins added.
The first day back to school for Lackawanna Trail students is scheduled for September 10.