North Hills Students To Learn At Home On Snow Days

ROSS TOWNSHIP, PA - The Pennsylvania Department of Education has approved North Hills School District's participation in the state's new Flexible Instructional Day program.

A flexible instructional day can be used in place of a snow day or other unplanned school
closure and eliminate the need for a make-up day because students perform classwork at home.

North Hills can begin using flex days this school year through the 2021-22 school year under the
current three-year application, and can use up to five days each year.

According to a district release, lesson plans and activities are being built for each subject area in each grade level. When combined, the lessons will resemble a school day, and students should plan to spend roughly the same amount of time on the assignments as they would spend in school.

In elementary school, students will follow that school day’s cycle day 1-6. If a student has
music on Day 2 and a FID is called on Day 2, for example, that student will complete a music assignment in addition to assignments for their four core subject areas: ELA, math, science and social studies.

Middle and high students will go through their schedule that day and complete an assignment for each class.

“This is going to be quality instruction,” North Hills School District Superintendent Patrick J. Mannarino said. “I don’t want to have any wasted days in education.”

The district plans to implement the program when the second semester begins in January.

When a flexible instruction day is called, students will be required to fill out and submit an online form marking whether they are participating. Students who are not participating will be absent that day.

Students in grades 5-12 will access their lessons for the day via Google Classroom. Fifth-
through twelfth-graders currently use Google Classroom so there should be little adjustment.

All lessons for students in grades K-4 will be pre-built, printed, placed in “blizzard bags” and
given to students prior to the first flexible instruction day. All assignments will also be accessible
via nhsd.net in case the blizzard bag is misplaced or not in the possession of the student.

During a flexible instruction day, teachers will be reachable by email or via Google Classroom, and must respond to inquiries within 30 minutes.

Completed assignments will need to be submitted within a to-be-determined time.

Initially, the district planned to allow seven days to account for things such as a power or internet outage, if a family does not have internet or more than one computer for multiple children, or if a student needs additional help, but is reevaluating the time length based on state recommendations.