The Pittsburgh Public Schools is preparing for the possible return of students in the fall, but it remains unclear if in-person instruction will happen.

Superintendent Anthony Hamlet said Thursday during a video conference that the district was waiting for more guidance from the state before making major decisions on what schools may look like in the fall. 

“There is an expectation [that schools will reopen], but we don’t know,” Mr. Hamlet said. “We’re preparing for full online implementation of a robust synchronous environment if need be, but we’re also preparing for brick-and-mortar and possible scenarios in between.”

Pedro A. Rivera, Pennsylvania’s secretary of education, said earlier this week that he expects schools to reopen in the fall in some form. He said the Department of Education was working to create strategies that schools can use to keep students and staff safe amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr. Hamlet said the district has considered splitting student schedules and using partial in-person and remote instruction as potential methods to bring students back in the fall.

“We’re looking at a multitude of scenarios right now to make sure that we’re prepared to respond once we get those guidelines,” he said.

In the meantime, the district said it intends to finish all 42 of the construction projects it planned for over the summer. Pam Capretta, the district’s chief operations officer, said the facilities team worked with the legal department to create protocols and update contractor schedules to accommodate for social distancing.

To get ready for the possibility of schools to reopen, Ms. Capretta said, the district has been reviewing all of its ventilation to ensure the system will support the number of people who will be in different spaces. The district is also identifying schools that may have social distancing issues and may be over capacity.

“We are just trying to prepare to have all the data necessary when we get information from Secretary Rivera,” she said. “Then we’ll have the data necessary to comply with their recommendations.”   

Ms. Capretta said student transportation remains another concern for the district.

The district has explored having only one child in a bus seat, but there might be problems with that, she said. The district also was negotiating with bus companies to see if bus drivers could receive additional training in the summer.  

“We are working diligently with our carriers,” Ms. Capretta said. 

Andrew Goldstein: agoldstein@post-gazette.com. 

First Published: May 14, 2020, 5:40 p.m.