ALLENTOWN, Pa. — It's been a rough few weeks for the Harrison-Morton Middle School community after a maintenance issue forced them to evacuate their 151-year-old school building.
In mid-February, at least one pipe burst at Harrison-Morton, causing extensive flooding that moved learning online for eight days.
While the building continues being repaired, students and staff returned to in-person learning last week at seven temporary sites across Allentown.
They will remain there for classes until further notice.
Temporary sites include Raub, South Mountain and Trexler middle schools; William Penn Alternative School; Dieruff High School; Lehigh Carbon Community College's Donley Center; and the former St. Francis School.
"It's definitely been stressful," one HMMS staff member told LehighValleyNews.com.
New schedules and learning environments have caused frustration for some students and families as they try to adapt.
And teachers are still adjusting to leading their classes without access to much of their supplies, which remain trapped in Harrison-Morton classrooms.
The Allentown School District acknowledged some of these concerns in a Friday statement.
"While there have been some initial challenges, as expected with a transition of this scale, we are actively working to refine transportation, provide additional supplies where needed, and ensure that every student feels supported in their new learning environment," the district said.
Allentown School Board President Andrene Brown-Nowell did not respond to a request for comment on the difficulties at Harrison-Morton over the past few weeks.
Student stress, transportation delays
Melissa Torruella, an HMMS parent, said the move to virtual learning, then recently to the temporary sites, has affected her sons' mental and physical health.
"It’s not for emotional children, the back and forth is not healthy for them.”Melissa Torruella, HMMS parent
Her two sons were so nervous to be at unfamiliar sites last Monday that Torruella said she kept them home from school that day.
"They both were throwing up, they both [had] headaches," she said. "It's not for emotional children, the back-and-forth is not healthy for them."
Transportation has been another issue, parents said.
Each morning students report to Harrison-Morton to catch ASD shuttle buses that then take them to their temporary school sites.
Parents said some buses were overcrowded early last week, and as the week went on, some buses continued to be late for morning pick-ups.
Jennifer Rosario, an HMMS parent, said her daughter and nephew had to wait an hour one day for their bus to arrive to take them to LCCC.
Rosario also said it has been hard for her daughter and nephew to adjust their morning schedules.
Instead of walking a short distance to Harrison-Morton just before school starts about 8 a.m., the middle schoolers now have to be packed, ready and at the school by 7 a.m. to catch their shuttle bus to LCCC.
"It is a little hectic [trying] to get them up extra early to make sure that they get to the bus on time," Rosario said.
Her daughter has had no complaints about having classes at LCCC though, except for the bagged lunches provided by the school district, Rosario said.
She misses the multiple lunch options that were available in Harrison-Morton’s cafeteria, her mother said.
Upset with Alternative School placement
For some HMMS parents whose children were temporarily assigned to William Penn Alternative School, the transition has been challenging and disconcerting.
Some rooms at the alternative school are too cold or too warm, they said. Students have been told by their teachers to wear sweatshirts over their T-shirts in order to be comfortable in class, so they can add or subtract layers based on a room’s temperature.
HMMS parents also said their children hear screaming coming from students of the alternative school on the floors above them.
“She said, ‘Mama, I try to concentrate,’ but sometimes it’s just constant. ... I don’t feel she’s safe at that school.”Monica Franco, HMMS parent
As an alternative school, William Penn serves "disruptive" students with behavioral issues who qualify for the placement based on the state's criteria.
HMMS students are kept separate from other students at all of the temporary sites, the district previously said.
Still, Monica Franco, a Harrison-Morton parent, said her daughter is distracted by the alleged screams at William Penn.
"She said, 'Mama, I try to concentrate,' but sometimes it’s just constant," Franco said. "I don’t feel she’s safe at that school."
Jade Morales, another Harrison-Morton parent, said her daughter is frightened by the yelling.
But some ASD staff members based at William Penn pushed back on the claims that the alternative school students scream during the school day.
The staff members spoke with LehighValleyNews.com about the matter on the condition of anonymity because they're not authorized by the district to speak with reporters.
"We do not hear the William Penn kids above us at all," one staff member said, and called claims of screaming "wildly inaccurate."
"That's just categorically wrong," another staff member said. “We never even see them.”
Franco and Morales both said they're not comfortable with their daughters at William Penn though, and they felt the district has ignored their concerns about the temporary placement.
At parent information sessions, administrators wouldn’t respond to questions about the site or potential alternatives, they said.
They were "completely blowing off all of our concerns," Morales said.
Why not continue virtual learning?
Both Franco and Morales said they would have preferred their daughters to continue learning virtually.
"I personally feel like virtual was a lot less stressful for kids and teachers and everyone involved because it was just, 'Hey, log in and do the work, and that’s it,'" Morales said.
"I don’t think two or three weeks of virtual would have hurt them that bad," Morales said.
Students have experience with extended online learning because of the coronavirus pandemic, she added.
But the district said in-person learning is essential.
“It is a lot easier to teach with the kids in front of you."HMMS staff member
"We cannot understate the importance of returning to the classroom," the district said in its statement.
In-person learning allows for hands-on activities, immediate teacher feedback and a sense of community "that can be difficult to replicate online," the statement said.
The Harrison-Morton staff member who spoke with LehighValleyNews.com agreed with the district’s stance.
"It is a lot easier to teach with the kids in front of you," said the staff member, who has been granted anonymity because they’re not authorized by ASD to speak with reporters.
The staff member said they can tell if students are understanding content or if they’re becoming bored by looking for nonverbal cues that aren't always apparent through online learning.
That's especially true because many students keep their cameras turned off during Zoom lessons, the staff member added.
"Doing virtual teaching is a lot like doing a séance in a house with no ghosts in it," they said.
'Hit the ground running'
The HMMS staff member also said students were happy to see each other and their teachers in person over the last week.
"It's funny how much they genuinely seem to have missed us," the staff member said.
“Everybody’s actually been chipping in. I’m pretty cynical about the district, and even I’m like, ‘Oh, they’re actually having our backs.’ It’s kind of nice.”HMMS staff member
Students and teachers have worked hard to adjust to the changes that come with being at the temporary sites, the staff member said.
Though there have been difficulties, they’ve all "hit the ground running" and "didn’t really miss a beat" as it relates to learning, they said.
Still, teachers have had to modify their lessons because some supplies, such as visual aids, learning games and headphones, are still at Harrison-Morton, the staff member added.
But building and district administrators already retrieved textbooks and other essential items from Harrison-Morton.
As a result, students have been able to use their curriculums over the past week and were not “wasting their time on a bunch of busy work,” the staff member said.
Administrators are continuing to get materials from Harrison-Morton based on a list of requests, they added.
"Everybody’s actually been chipping in," the staff member said. "I’m pretty cynical about the district, and even I’m like, 'Oh, they’re actually having our backs.' It’s kind of nice."
When will Harrison-Morton reopen?
In the meantime, Harrison-Morton — built in 1874 when Ulysses S. Grant was president — continues being repaired.
ASD’s facilities team and external contractors are working to remediate water damage, replace flooring, repair water piping, conduct air quality testing and evaluate building systems.
“We deeply appreciate the flexibility and resilience of our students, families, and staff throughout this process."Allentown School District in a release
Harrison-Morton’s principal previously told families that students would spend about three weeks at the temporary sites. That would mean an anticipated return to Harrison-Morton on March 24.
But ASD said in a Friday statement it's still assessing the timeline for reopening, though reconstruction efforts “remain on track.”
“We deeply appreciate the flexibility and resilience of our students, families, and staff throughout this process,” the district said.
