Central Bucks School District cites inadequate staff in decision to start school year online

FOX 29's Shawnette Wilson reports.

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. - Students in Central Bucks School District will start the upcoming school year entirely online until at least Nov. 11.

Central Bucks, one of the state's largest districts, will start their school year online on Sept. 8, and remain online until at least the end of the first marking period in November.

School district officials say their intent was to bring students back into their buildings at the start of the new school year, and have been carefully creating a reopening plan with input from parents.

After receiving responses about preferences between in-person, hybrid, and online learning, the district says it became apparent they did not have "adequate staff" to safely open schools.

" The COVID-19 pandemic has left many people struggling to find a balance between safely returning to work while maintaining personal health and well-being. Our faculty and staff are no different than our community in that many of our employees are struggling with countless issues and individual circumstances that prevent them from returning to our schools in person. Once this information was provided to us, we re-examined our proposed school reopening plan and explored each option, navigating possible solutions," read a release on the district website.

While virtual learning is underway during the first marking period, officials say they will continue to evaluate staffing and seek to employ the appropriate number of people to achieve their original goal of "implementing all options of our reopening plan as soon as possible."

While we start school remotely, the administration will continue to work on solutions to bring our students back into their schools under the selected choice parents chose. Our goal is and has been to reopen our schools and operate in a safe environment while providing the best education for our students," the release continued.

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