The state is allowing in-person instruction to start again July 1, but is requiring each school district to have a health and safety plan in place before bringing students back to school. Bucks County schools will reopen in the fall, but what it will look like is unknown.
Some might look at the preliminary state plan for reopening schools and see a lack of concrete direction in some areas.
Central Bucks School District Superintendent John Kopicki prefers to view it as flexibility.
Pennsylvania Department of Education officials announced Wednesday that in-person instruction can resume July 1. Bringing students back to schools will require each district to have a health and safety plan developed using guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state health department, and approved by school boards.
And while PDE officials said more guidance will be issued in the coming weeks and months, specific reopening protocols for classroom instruction, extracurricular activities and other areas are being largely left up to individual districts in consultation with federal and state health officials.
“It’s never bad when the state secretary of education (Pedro Rivera) reaches out and tries to offer some guidelines and assistance to districts that are all struggling to provide for the health and safety of our kids,” said Kopicki, top administrator at the largest school district in Bucks County.
“I think the state is trying to give us as much local control as possible and put decision-making into the hands of individual communities, because every community knows their school district best. If the plan is vague and not detailed enough in some areas, it’s because the state is trying not to mandate, but guide and leave decisions to local districts.”
The Bucks County Intermediate Unit issued a news release late Thursday on behalf of itself and the county’s 13 school districts and three career and technical centers. It stated that all planned to reopen schools in the fall and the IU would continue offering help and guidance.
“What that (reopening) looks like is not yet clear, as teaching and learning will continue to evolve and may take on different forms from school to school and district to district,” the IU release stated.
“The PDE-required health and safety plans must include what each district will do under a variety of circumstances specific to transportation, class size, scheduling and other areas.
“Each plan may contain some common elements. However, due to differences in considerations like district size, geographic location, school design, graduation requirements and local board policy, each plan will also be unique.”
It adds that summer school and extended school year programs in special education will continue to be conducted virtually.
State education officials said they would be flexible in allowing school districts, if they choose, to reopen schools under a hybrid model that would include both online and in-person instruction.
And while the state’s preliminary reopening plan also references coronavirus precautions such as masks and social distancing, officials said they would also be as flexible as possible for students and staff who might have medical or other problems with masks.
According to the state’s plan, school district health and safety plans must include identifying a pandemic coordinator or team to lead response efforts, steps to protect high-risk children and staff, processes for monitoring students and staff for symptoms, processes for cleaning and disinfecting and several other elements.
Plans must be approved by local boards, submitted to PDE and posted on district websites before schools can reopen.
Colleges, universities, seminaries, trade schools and adult basic education programs were cleared to resume in-person instruction starting Friday under health and safety plans.
Kopicki said reopening protocols in Central Bucks would continue to be developed and released to residents when they are clearly formulated.
Quakertown Community School District Superintendent William Harner wrote in an email that the district has formed several task force work groups co-led by principals and district office staff, and including teachers and support staff. They will work at developing plans for the start of the 2020-21 school year.
Work group projects include virtual instruction, equity, meeting social/emotional needs, building community in a virtual environment, and safety in a live environment.
“As part of the process to inform each of the work groups, we have asked students, teachers and parents to complete surveys,” Harner wrote.
“We are planning for multiple educational scenarios, and expect that we may be required to change at least once or twice during the 2020-21 school year. We will continue to seek guidance from both the state and the Bucks County Health Department. Many unknowns still exist from the state.”
Several other Bucks County school district superintendents did not respond to requests for comment.
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