Geography and population complicate Pennsylvania's reopening

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Coping with Corona: Summer events will be missed

WILKES-BARRE &mdash; One Coughlin High School teacher decided her senior students deserved more than the remote learning efforts she&rsquo;s been making during the COVID-19 pandemic close schools, so she decided to make some house calls, literally.
				&ldquo;They&rsquo;re missing so much, they&rsquo;re really bummed&rdquo; with schools closed for the remainder of the year, Genelle Hoban-Sedon said. Senior traditions, from prom to sports to graduation itself, are either already canceled or uncertain.
				&ldquo;Every day is an &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t know&rsquo; day.&rdquo;
				So she prepared personalized cards with inspirational sayings for each of 10 students and convinced her husband Chris, also a teacher, to chauffeur her around town.
				&ldquo;I want to make this time special for them.&rdquo;
				First stop, Curry Donuts on East Market Street. Well, at least that was the plan.
				Their Honda got a flat tire Friday not too far from Coughlin itself. Undaunted, Genelle hoofed it to the donut shop while Chris replaced the tire. While the masked clerk individually bagged each donut, the masked teacher touted the success of her English as Second Language seniors &mdash; one is on the way to King&rsquo;s College, another is joining the Navy, and others are heading to Luzerne County Community College.
				The tire replaced, donuts and cards in hand, they set out.
				&ldquo;They don&rsquo;t know I&rsquo;m coming,&rdquo; she smiled.
				They stopped at houses on Washington, Wyoming, Grant, and Woodside, among others. Each time Genelle approached the door beaming a smile and knocked, asking for the student. One door went unanswered, another proved to be an old address for a student who had moved, and at a third the sister of the student answered.
				&ldquo;That&rsquo;s OK, I taught her too!&rdquo;
				Without failure, the visits brought huge grins on her students, none of whom had seen Hoban-Sedon since the left classes on March 13. Gov. Tom Wolf ordered all schools statewide closed beginning the following Monday.
				A few went beyond grins and came in for an embrace, an urge quashed by the mandate for social distancing.
				&ldquo;Virtual hugs!&rdquo; Hoban-Sedon smiled, wrapping her arms around herself to simulate a real one.
				Noemi Galeno was so happy she started to shed a few tears. &ldquo;I&rdquo;m not crying,&rdquo; she insisted with a laugh.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s just that it&rsquo;s cold out.&rdquo;
				Hoban-Sedon deemed the effort a huge success, so much so she&rsquo;s hoping to come up with another gift each week. &ldquo;I want to do it every week until June 5.
				That would be the official date for commencement, at least so far.

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Coughlin High School teacher reaches out to senior students