As Centre County COVID-19 numbers climb, local schools assess potential changes to instruction
While State College Area students are learning remotely, other Centre County school districts are debating making changes to their instructional plans as community COVID-19 cases continue to rise.
Centre County reached the state Department of Health’s “substantial level” — the highest level of community transmission of the coronavirus — last week. In this stage, the state recommends all county K-12 schools shut down and revert to “full remote learning.” According to the DOH early warning dashboard, Centre County has the second-highest incidence rate in the state per 100,000 residents in the most recent week.
SCASD closed facilities Friday so officials could monitor case numbers in the community, most of which are connected to Penn State students.
“Fully remote is certainly not where we want to be, and I can assure you that our goal is to get students back in schools as soon as possible,” SCASD Superintendent Bob O’Donnell wrote in a letter to parents and guardians. “Currently, we are working on a return-to-school plan that would include specific guidelines for allowing us to safely resume in-school learning.”
The district board of directors will meet for a special meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, and a decision for the week of Sept. 14-18 will be announced Friday.
“Moving forward, our goal is to operate on a week-by-week basis with the decision for the next week made on Fridays,” O’Donnell wrote.
No Centre County school district has announced a confirmed COVID-19 case among staff or students. Some districts have temperature and health screenings before entry each day, but no school — except Penn State — is testing students and staff for the virus.
Because the increase is primarily limited to the State College area, surrounding districts have indicated they aren’t ready to close and cancel in-person instruction. After meeting with state and local officials, educators notified district families over the weekend and again Tuesday that they will continue to assess the daily numbers and work to ensure students stay in school as long as possible.
Bellefonte
Bellefonte Area School District interim Superintendent Tammie Burnaford said during Tuesday’s board of directors meeting that the number of COVID-19 cases in district ZIP codes — 16823 and 16841 — are “minimal.”
“I think it’s safe to say that with six new cases in seven days that we don’t have a significant community outbreak within the town or the area of Bellefonte,” Burnaford said.
Burnaford said the district will “wait and see” what happens with COVID-19 data, following the holiday weekend.
“Instead of just jumping when we were substantial for the first week, we need to wait for another week to see if that trend is continuous,” she said. “After that even if we have two substantial weeks in a row, it is still a local decision. It is still our decision to make as to what instructional model we choose.”
If there is an outbreak in the school, the DOH will guide the district on how to address potential spread.
“Looking at all of that information, to me, it seemed like we had no significant community transmission within our own community,” she said. “And we have no cases at all in our schools or anywhere, so there was no reason at this point, in my opinion, to move to a full virtual learning model.”
Bald Eagle Area
In a letter on Tuesday, Bald Eagle Area School District Superintendent Scott Graham told parents that the decision to close schools is a “local one.”
After meeting with other county superintendents, the DOH and state Department of Education, Graham said schools are not recommended to teach entirely online after receiving one week of COVID-19 data. Even after two or more weeks, Graham said the decision to close is entirely up to each individual district.
“The main factor determining whether schools stay open, regardless of the category or phase we are in, is how many cases do we have in our schools,” Graham wrote. “I found out today that the DOH considers two or more cases in a building an outbreak, and if that occurs, they will work with the district to determine if a school or the district needs to go to remote learning for a period of time.”
As of Tuesday, BEA has zero confirmed cases among staff or students. If a case is confirmed in the district, Graham said the school will notify the public but keep the individual’s identity confidential.
BEA students returned to school on Aug. 25. He said students, staff and parents have worked to adjust to a “new normal.”
“The good news is that this will not last forever,” Graham wrote. “Eventually this pandemic will end. Until then, thank you everyone for working together to do what’s best for our students.”
Philipsburgh-Osceola and Penns Valley area school districts have not yet announced any potential changes to their health and safety plans.
