Students return to school virtually in Phoenixville Area School District

PHOENIXVILLE, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- It is certainly a strange first day of school at Phoenixville Area High School, as there will be no kids in the building and no school buses. Instead, they will all learn from home

The school district selected a scaffolded reopening plan for the beginning of the 2020-21 academic year.

This means students in Kindergarten through 12th grade will start the school year virtually and will continue to learn from home until at least the end of the first marking period on October 31.

At the beginning of October, the school administration will decide whether or not to begin the second marking period with in-person instruction.

In a message sent to parents and students ahead of Monday's reopening, Superintendent Dr. Alan Fegley said compliance is key to returning to the classroom.

It read: "The infection rate is declining. Folks wearing masks, social distancing. The faster the rate of infection goes down, the faster we will all be in school."

High school sports, however, can resume for the fall season.

The governing body for Pennsylvania interscholastic sports voted on Friday against Gov. Tom Wolf's recommendations to pause school sports.

Technically practices can resume Monday but it's up to each individual school district when or if they will restart.

Philadelphia has already said there will be no school sports until 2021.