Jamestown Public Schools District announced on Monday said schools will be working to add in-person attendance on Fridays beginning on Oct. 23 for students who currently attend in-person classes.

“We’re attempting to balance instruction with safety,” Superintendent Kevin Whitaker told The Post-Journal Monday. “We’re eager to have our kids back in front of teachers, but we still have to be careful and go slowly.”

Whitaker said that faculty and staff were alerted late last week on the change. Fridays, so far, have been total remote for most students in the district.

Each school will contact parents and students with specific information regarding the Friday schedule for in-person learning.

¯ Elementary students who currently attend either morning or afternoon, Monday through Thursday, will also attend each Friday (morning or afternoon) beginning October 23.

¯ Cohort A, students in grades 5-9 who attend only Mondays and Wednesdays, will also attend on Friday, Oct. 23, and every other Friday thereafter.

¯ Cohort B, students in grades 5-9 who attend only Tuesdays and Thursdays, will also attend on Friday, Oct. 30, and every other Friday thereafter.

¯ Cohort C, students in all grades who currently attend full days Monday through Thursday for specialized instruction, will also attend full days each Friday.

¯ Cohort D, students in all grades who attend only by distance learning, will continue learning at home according to their current schedule.

“Principals had been planning for this for a while,” Whitaker said. “We asked principals to communicate with their staff and they had been working with (Director of Schools) Tina (Sandstrom) on implementing this.”

Whitaker said that Jamestown High School principal Dana Williams will be alerting parents of students grades 10 through 12 what the plan will be. Previously, the district had discussed bringing back individual classes or groups of students to in-person instruction.

The announcement comes as the district has mostly kept the novel coronavirus out of school buildings — only two confirmed cases have been announced by JPS officials since the beginning of school and both students are learning off-site.

“Generally, things are going well,” Whitaker said. “This really is like Jenga. The wood is all stacked up according to plan, but at any point, someone could hack that on that piece of wood and it could fall. We don’t want to build too high. We want to make sure that if there’s some impact below we don’t want it to tower over.”

All schools will continue to be cleaned throughout the day, including between elementary sessions, and disinfected nightly per CDC guidelines, the district said. Bus transportation will continue to be provided for students who require it, including Fridays.

Meals will be distributed each day, including Fridays. Students attending in-person will be provided meals at dismissal. Students who do not attend in-person may pick up meals at their school of enrollment on any day that they attend remotely or by distance learning.

Children that attends after-school programming will hear from their provider as to whether families will need any additional needs with the new schedule. Working parents who are in need of after school programming are invited to reach out to 483-7121 for information about the options available.

Monday’s decision should be a topic of discussion at this evening’s meeting of the Jamestown Public Schools Board of Education at 6 p.m. tonight at the administration building on Martin Road. Those looking to attend must call 483-4420 to reserve their spot due to space limitations in cooperation with New York state guidelines.