State College amends health and safety plan, but not to expand in-person learning
After seeing a spike in community COVID-19 cases, the State College Area School District put plans to expand in-person learning on hold, but with vaccine efforts underway, educators are optimistic about the future.
Last month, district administrators announced tentative plans to alter the school health and safety plan to accommodate elementary students’ requests to return to in-person learning. But after the Centre Region reported increased coronavirus cases, SCASD Superintendent Bob O’Donnell said during Monday’s school board meeting that a decision could not be made until community data improved.
“We are continuing to look at expanding in-person learning; however, we obviously need to see some improvement to make any changes that would return to the board,” O’Donnell said — adding that the board could revisit the topic at its next meeting. “We want to encourage anyone who’s eligible to please get the vaccine.”
Centre County’s positivity rate rose last week to 10.3% from 9.2% and is one of 45 counties were in the substantial level of community transmission, according to the state Department of Health.
Though plans to have more students return to the classroom have been postponed, the board of directors did amend the district health and safety plan Monday night to allow outside groups to use district indoor and outdoor facilities.
Previously, the plan prohibited outside groups from using district facilities while phases were used to guide reopening regulations. Now, outside use is permitted as long as participants follow the district health and safety plan, as well as state capacity regulations.
O’Donnell added that the community has seen “slight improvement” in its seven-day COVID 19 average and hopes that trend will continue as the district plans to host a senior prom and dinner at Memorial Field later this spring and in-person graduation. Though the district is still waiting for guidance from the state departments of health and education, O’Donnell said SCASD does not want to implement another hybrid learning experience for the upcoming school year.
“Obviously, our hope is to have K-12 in-person opportunities for all students in a manner that families are comfortable sending back their students,” O’Donnell added. “As we learn more, we’ll continue to update the board and the community about the plans for our educational model, and we’ll also reach out to parents regarding their preferences for the fall and interact with them as well.”
