Penta returns to four-day, in-person instruction
With more than 70 percent of the staff fully vaccinated and COVID-19 cases continuing to be low, the Penta Career Center board of education approved the superintendent’s recommendation to bring students back in the building on a four-day schedule beginning March 16.
Students will remain in the virtual format on Mondays and attend in person Tuesdays through Fridays, explained Superintendent Ed Ewers at the board’s March 10 meeting.
The superintendent based his recommendation on the vaccination rate of staff and data he had researched.
“Our academic and career tech clusters had a range between 71 and 84 percent vaccinated,” he said.
He also looked at a peer-reviewed study from Israel that showed an 85 percent effective rate 14 to 28 days after the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine that was administered to personnel.
Mr. Ewers said a University of Minnesota study from their Center for Infectious Disease and Research also showed a high effective rate.
The study indicated the vaccine was 74 percent effective against hospitalizations, 72 percent effective at preventing death and 92 percent effective against the infection seven days after the second immunization was administered.
“It suggested an 80 percent effective rate against known variants,” he added.
Mr. Ewers also looked at guidance from the Centers for Disease Control, which states that “only when fully vaccinated can we start doing things that had been stopped due to the pandemic. Until at least two weeks after the second dose, prevention steps should be followed.”
The superintendent reviewed the CDC’s “Operational Strategy for kindergarten to 12 Schools through Phased Mitigation.”
The document suggests that students return full time when spread is low or moderate with regular testing.
It further recommends schools reduce transmission using the following mitigation strategies: universal use of masks, handwashing and respiratory etiquette, cleaning and maintaining healthy facilities, and contact tracing in combination with isolation and quarantine.
He noted the district is following all the strategies and has installed air purification units in the H/VAC system as an additional measure.
The CDC also recommends schools look at factors specific to their buildings and community. These include data on new cases per visits, hospital admissions and new cases per capita.
Of the five counties served by Penta, the seven-day average has been trending down, he said. Hospitalizations and emergency room visits also are declining.
Cases at the school have remained consistently low. “The four positive cases we had occurred between October 20 and November 30,” he said, adding he believes three of them occurred possibly outside of the classroom.
More than 800 students were sent home and some quarantined, but of those tested, 99.55 percent did not test positive.
As a result, Mr. Ewers said, “I am ready to ask the board to consider students’ return on March 16.”
Penta’s “responsible restart” will include the continuation of CDC recommended mitigation strategies which the district already has in place.
Penta personnel also will work with students with work schedules and family responsibilities and those with health complications that have concerns, he said.
Board member Paul Walker of Bowling Green Schools believes the timing is right. “I agree, we need to get the kids back in school.”
Eric Bennington, a board member from Perrysburg Schools added, “I agree too. We’re all [school districts] working to get kids back in school.”
“I think it’s time,” said board member Bill Green of Northwest Ohio Educational Service Center. “I do too,” added board member Diane Balcerzak of Maumee City Schools.
Other Business
In other business, the school board:
•Rejected bids for the masonry/façade restoration project on the career center’s exterior and agreed to rebid the project. Treasurer Carrie Herringshaw said inconsistencies occurred with the bid process as a result of February’s winter storm emergency.
She expects to have the bids back and ready for board approval at the April meeting.
•Accepted the retirement resignation of Rose Szczepanski, EMIS/testing secretary, effective June 1. She has been with Penta since 2000, said Mr. Ewers, adding, “Rose has been an integral part of testing and what happens with our students.”
•Employed Kristen Benner, school counselor, with a oneyear limited contract and Alyssa Waganfeald, substitute school nurse. The board also hired Alexas Piper as assistant to the treasurer in the board office.
•Accepted Hannah Bushong as a student teacher in special education. The Bowling Green State University student will work with Morgan Bruskotter in special education.
•Heard from Ryan Lee, career center director, that enrollment has been on the rise since recruitment began in December. Level two and three student numbers rose from 301 in December to 580 on March 9. Similar increases occurred for level one and sophomore students from 224 to 293. Despite prospective students not being able to visit the building, Mr. Ryan said, “we’ve seen a nice increase.”
He updated the board on plans to host a signing day for the new students. The in-person event will be done in as controlled a method as possible, he explained, keeping mindful of virus protocols.
The director also said school officials are working on plans for a senior recognition ceremony and summer STEM and robotics camps.
•Expressed condolences to Sherri Koback, a member of the Springfield Local Schools board of education, and the district following an early morning accident involving one of their former students, Ethan Pawlowski, and a Springfield school bus. The bus driver was not injured but the 18 year old was hospitalized with critical injuries.
•Learned from Assistant Superintendent Bob Falkenstein that the Association of Career Technical Superintendents will visit Penta in April. “We will be hosting a seminar. It will be nice to throw open our doors and welcome people,” he said.
•Approved one request to attend a professional meeting. Jennifer Rigali will attend a veterinary science educator meeting on March 19 in Lebanon at a cost of $218.
The next board meeting will be at 5:15 p.m., Wednesday, April 14, in the board meeting room 9301 Buck Road, Perrysburg Township, and is open to the public. Masks are required and social distancing protocols will be followed.
