LOWELLVILLE — Lowellville schools will implement districtwide remote learning for at least the first nine weeks of school, Superintendent Eugene Thomas said.

The decision follows a special board of education meeting on Monday. Based on information from families over the course of the last several weeks, Thomas said that a traditional classroom setting was not the best procedure during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We want our families and community to know that we understand the anxiety, uneasiness and uncertainty from everyone as we continue to go down this path of making the decisions on how to reopen Lowellville schools in the safest way possible,” he said. “There is nothing more our teachers and staff want than to be face-to-face with the students in the buildings.”

Although the decision is to conduct remote lessons, Thomas said that athletics and other extra-curricular activities will continue, unless otherwise instructed by the governor, county health department, Ohio High School Athletics Association or the Mahoning Valley Athletics Conference.

The number of students enrolled for a traditional classroom setting, which was an option, coupled with students and staff that are at-risk helped the board make its decision, the superintendent explained.

The school year will begin Aug. 31, which is a week later than the original Aug. 24 start date.

Remote learning will be conducted for the first nine weeks of the school year, and will be reassessed before the end of the grading period, Thomas said.

During the remote learning model, all students will follow a modified daily schedule of their assigned classes.

Structured live lessons with teachers will be conducted through Zoom or Google Classroom, with additional support on Wednesdays.

“If it is decided at the end of nine weeks to return to face-to-face instruction, families that made the initial decision” and chose the online option will be able to continue with that option, Thomas said.