On Monday night, the Marion Center School Board approved a hybrid model for student instruction at the district.
Starting January 11th, the district will start using the model, which was described by Superintendent Clint Weimer as a “ramped-up” version of the hybrid model they were working in earlier this school year before going to an all-remote model over the holidays.
The new hybrid program will also focus on students who are unable to take classes online due to lack of internet access. Weimer said over the last few weeks, the number of students that are without internet access from home was reduced from over 400 to about 112. Those students will have the option to attend school, but they may be in a common area if social distancing is not possible.
In other business, the board heard a brief presentation from District Business Manager Rick Martini, who said that the next deadline for the district’s budget process will be January 28th. That is the deadline for all Pennsylvania schools to either approve a resolution to not raise taxes over the state-mandated index, which for Marion Center is 4.2 percent or submit a preliminary budget where the increase would exceed the state-mandated index.
The board also approved hiring Caren Kalgren as a long-term substitute for secondary social studies.
