Some Parents In Mt. Lebanon School District Say It Is Time For Teachers To Rejoin Students In Classroom
MT. LEBANON, Pa. (KDKA) -- As more districts prepare to unveil reopening plans, Mt. Lebanon School District remains hybrid.
Students at the middle and high schools attend in-person classes two days a week, but parents say some teachers continue to lead the class from home.
KDKA's Meghan Schiller talked to parents who said they love the district and its teachers, but they want all of the teachers physically in the classroom. Especially, they said, when their children are in the building.
"It makes zero sense to me why my child would go to school or why I would send her to school for her to be logging on to a teacher who is teaching from their house," said Emily Heim.
Heim sends three children to the Mt. Lebanon School District.
"I have a senior and a sophomore and a seventh-grader," she said.
Heim said only two out of her senior's five instructors are teaching in-person.
"She only has five academic classes because she's a senior. So her only live instruction is seventh and eighth period at the end of the day," Heim said.
Mt. Lebanon School District spokesperson Cissy Bowman couldn't give KDKA's Meghan Schiller a ballpark number for how many teachers wish to teach remotely but said she could file a Right-to-Know Request for that information. Bowman said the district needs to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and teachers who remain teaching remotely filed ADA paperwork with the district.
"I have five kids in the school district, three in high school, one in the middle school and one in the elementary school," said Patrick Smith.
Smith plans to keep his three high schoolers at home for now because he didn't want them to have to deal with the "back and forth" regarding openings and closures due to coronavirus cases.
"It seems as if the school district is really dragging their feet and not seeing this has to be done now," said Smith. "We have to get these kids back into school now."
He told KDKA he hopes when his children return to class full time, their favorite teachers will too.
"That's why we're here in Mt. Lebanon because these teachers are great and that's why I'm so adamant about the fact that they need to go back to school with the teachers because that face to face is essential," said Smith.
KDKA's Meghan Schiller did reach out for comment from the Mt. Lebanon Education Association but did not hear back by news time.
The district said many of these impacted teachers are beloved, veteran teachers. The district says it would rather have them teaching students remotely than not teaching at all.
