State College adjusts health and safety plan in an effort to keep students in school amid COVID-19 spike
After taking a week to gather more information and gain a better understanding of what having Penn State students on campus means for community COVID-19 data, the State College Area School District has updated its health and safety plan in an effort to keep kids in school.
The board of directors met virtually in a special meeting Thursday to discuss school reopening guidelines. For one week, district staff and students have been working remotely after Centre County reached “substantial level” — the highest level of community transmission of the coronavirus — on Sept. 4.
In this stage, the state Department of Health recommends all county schools revert to “full remote learning.” According to the DOH’s early warning dashboard, Centre County has the second-highest incidence rate in the state per 100,000 residents in the most recent week.
The initial SCASD health and safety plan required administrators to consider closing school if 50-75 COVID-19 cases were reported in district ZIP codes. But with no reported coronavirus cases among staff or students and additional guidance from the DOH, the district is confident that it can maintain in-person instruction safely.
In a 7-2 vote, the board approved to change its reopening plan, with board members Laurel Zydney and Gretchen Brandt opposed.
“As we look at the impact of COVID-19 in our community, we have come to the conclusion that if we don’t update our health and safety plan, we will not be able to return to in-school instruction for the foreseeable future, possibly months,” district administrators wrote in a memorandum sent Thursday. “The current plan was put into place before we had specific experience as to how COVID-19 would spread in our community.”
The board discussed the changes and accepted public comment for over four hours — with the vast majority of speakers asking the district to reopen schools as soon as possible.
With the approved amendments to the original plan, guidelines now include procedures for reopening and potential future closings and allow “enough flexibility to adapt to changing conditions,” Superintendent Bob O’Donnell and Director of Student Services Jeanne Knouse wrote.
DOH guidelines suggest that school districts in counties having 10% or higher COVID-19 positivity rates should consider teaching under a fully remote educational model. Including Thursday’s coronavirus numbers, Centre County’s rate averages at 9.7% over a seven-day period.
Districts in counties experiencing 100 or more new cases per 100,000 residents in a weeklong period are also recommended to revert to remote learning. According to Centre County’s most recent census estimate, there are 163,000 people living in the county, amounting to 163 cases reported over the course of seven days.
To calculate the new metrics, SCASD did not include the University Park (16802) cases due to Penn State’s required isolation for students living on campus. As of Thursday, the adjusted seven-day countywide total was 275.
The district also plans to monitor community cases — reported by Geisinger, Mount Nittany Health and Penn State — any district cases and hospital capacity and DOH guidelines into account before making a decision to reopen or close schools.
“Each week, we will take all of the above data into consideration while deciding whether to be in-school or remote for the next week,” administrators wrote. “The information as a whole will be analyzed and the decision will be communicated as soon as possible on either Thursday or Friday.”
Additional precautions include random daily health screenings at entry points to school buildings. This includes temperature checks and questions from a daily screening checklist. SCASD is also collaborating with two local health care providers to develop a strategy to conduct random COVID-19 testing on employees to identify asymptomatic adults.
The district has not yet announced when students and staff will return for in-person learning.
