LEWISBURG – The Lewisburg Area School District says delaying the start of the school year scheduled for next week could happen. Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Polinchock says delaying the start of school ‘would not be out of the question’ because the district wants to reopen schools with the best possible learning environment for students.
The current plan is to have five-day in-person learning with one half-day a week for extra cleaning, along with a cyber option. Lewisburg’s first day of classes is next Thursday. Dr. Polinchock says it will be important to know the results of future state monitoring, over the next two weeks to see if the recent substantial increase in local numbers was contained.
Monday, the state Department of Health released new guidance for reopening schools based on new data and science. Union County was in the highest category, ‘substantial,’ which would trigger a recommendation to continue remote learning. Dr. Polinchock says this is a ‘curve ball we didn’t expect to be thrown,’ but she’s happy the Departments of Health and Education are coordinating this effort to inform schools.
Below are the remarks of Dr. Polinchock.
August 10, 2020
Dear Lewisburg Area Community,
As you may be aware, the Departments of Health and Education made a joint announcement regarding the new guidance for school districts. The Department of Education announced Determining Instructional Models During the COVID-19 Pandemic. In collaboration with the Department of Health, they will publish a weekly status report on COVID-19 cases by county. Based on the incidence rate per 100,000 people and/or the percent positive with COVID-19, a county would be designated as low, moderate, or substantial. Along with a county’s designation, the Department of Education is recommending that school districts use an in-person, hybrid, or remote model for instruction. The county’s status is based on the previous seven days’ data.
For Union County, based on the data for the week ending August 7, 2020, the county is designated as substantial. This accounts for the COVID-19 incidence rate and positivity rate from August 1 through August 7. School districts would consider two, consecutive weeks in a designation to make determinations about whether schools would be in-person, hybrid, or remote. The designation as low, moderate, or substantial do not take into account cases of COVID-19 in congregate facilities, such as nursing homes or the prison. The data will be reported as totals without the underlying circumstances in the community.
The Department of Education published their new guidance this afternoon around 12:30 pm. On a Skype call this morning with officials from the Departments of Health and Education, superintendents from Mifflinburg Area School District and Milton Area School District, and director from SUN Area Technical Institute, we were made aware of the new guidance that was to be published and Union County’s status. The school districts were advised to consider the next status report that will be published on Monday, August 17 when making any decisions regarding the opening of school. There is another follow-up call with the Departments tomorrow.
I appreciate the community’s concern over the reopening of schools and this latest announcement. The conditions in Union County and surrounding area have remained consistent over the summer with very few cases of COVID-19. Until this week’s data is reported on August 17, we do not know if Union County will be returning to a relatively low level of cases. No decision about the reopening of schools will be made today; however, the District is considering steps to ensure we have the time needed to make the appropriate and safest decision. The District does have a plan for a hybrid model with elementary students receiving in-person instruction and secondary students receiving remote, virtual instruction. The District also has a plan for remote instruction. Parents will continue to have the option for the LASD eSchool. From the beginning, or at least my beginning on July 1, we knew that having three plans would be prudent if the conditions in the county and area changed.
I will continue to provide updates to the community as new information arises.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jennifer Polinchock
Superintendent of Schools
