Trending
School districts located in counties which have gone to the governor's yellow or green phase can begin planning for in-person instruction for the fall, according to guidelines released by the state's Department of Education. Districts also have the option of providing some type of hybrid instruction featuring
in-person and remote learning.
The move was announced by Matt Stem, deputy secretary of the office of elementary and secondary education with the state's department of education.
Stem made the announcement at a media conference held via ZOOM recently. Also at the conference were Pedro Rivera, secretary of education and Noe Ortega, deputy secretary of higher education.
In releasing the guidelines for reopening, Stem said that PDE had relied on information from the CDC, the state department of health and medical professionals. This includes information on topics such as cleaning, sanitizing, ventilation and hygiene practices, as well as other guidelines.
"Although there are required elements within each plan, there is flexibility that allows school leaders and their stakeholders to operationalize practices at the local level," Stem said.
In the yellow phase, a district's health and safety plan should include identifying a pandemic coordinator and a pandemic team which would deal with health and safety preparedness and response planning. The plan must also cover steps to protect students and staff who are at a high risk to contract COVID-19 as well as steps establishing a protocol for isolating a student or staff member who is symptomatic or who has been exposed to the coronavirus. Guidelines for the use of face coverings by all staff and for older students, as appropriate, are some of the things to be included in a district's plan, as outlined by PDE's guidance.
Guidelines addressing protocols for social distancing, allowing for six feet of separation among students and staff throughout the day to the maximum extent feasible as well as procedures for restricting use of the cafeteria and other spaces where students gather need to be included in a district's health and safety plan, according to PDE. Establishing rules for social distancing when transporting students is also covered in PDE's guidance for reopening.
When asked specifically about what in-person learning would look like as students head back to school, Rivera said that attaching a limit to the number of students in a classroom would be determined by how social distancing can be accomplished.
"What we're going to identify is not specifically how many students in a classroom nor an occupancy model as what you've seen around business and industry," he said.
Rivera went on to explain that the criteria for class size would be related to social distancing guidelines and looking at transition time and space and also how much time students spend congregating in large group settings such as auditoriums and cafeterias.
"What the guidance is going to provide is a little more specificity, how much room should exist, how much space should there be between student in classroom and other individuals in the classroom as well," Rivera said.
"So, based on the specific social distancing guidance, schools can then personalize those expectations to meet the needs of your classroom," Rivera added.
The PDE officials were asked if students would be required to wear masks, taking into consideration that some younger students and students with special needs would find wearing masks difficult.
"There are all types of different circumstances and conditions that students and other individuals may not be able to wear masks in school, if that's one of the conditions that we've set in the school guidance," Rivera said.
"As we share that flexibility around the plans, schools leaders have already started to take a look at that and take into account as to what population of students and staff can readily wear masks and come to school, maintain those social distancing guidelines and meet the robust nature of a plan," he added.
Rivera stressed that districts should have the plans which they create for reopening in place before schools are operational and that they are vetted through the school board and in the process through the local communities.
"Most importantly, school districts are going to have to post those plans online for public inspection so that families can absolutely in a predictable manner know what's expected of them and their students as they return to all levels of instruction," Rivera said.
When asked if schools will be on the normal schedule for reopening in the fall, Rivera said that his department has heard from district leaders and that many are considering a different school calendar for the start of the school year.
"I think many school districts, if not most school districts, we see across the Commonwealth are going to look at a different schedule than they historically have," he said.
"Do we think they're just going to go to the traditional system of instruction, I don't think so, but understand that depends on the needs of those in the local community," he added.