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UNION TWP. &mdash; At a Wednesday board meeting streamed live on YouTube, The Northwest Area School Board approved the re-opening plan for this coming school year, but both Superintendent Joseph Long and Athletic Director Matthew Mills pointed to very recent events that demonstrate how rapidly things can change.
				&ldquo;Nothing, and I repeat, nothing in this is finalized,&rdquo; Long said during his comments prior to the vote. &ldquo;The governor today put out new restrictions, so it changed since we had the plan in effect yesterday.&rdquo; In fact, things have changed so much since the district started working on a plan that a second parent/guardian survey is being developed to re-assess family expectations and concerns.
				&ldquo;The athletic fall sports season is uncertain,&rdquo; Mills said. &ldquo;Today the PIAA (Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association) said we&rsquo;re basically moving on track with fall sports unless otherwise directed by the Commonwealth. At the same time that good news came out, the governor increased some restrictions.&rdquo;
				Both referred to Gov. Tom Wolf&rsquo;s announcement during a media conference Wednesday afternoon that, in order to avoid a quick surge in COVID-19 cases as some southern and western states are experiencing, he was ordering restrictions on some businesses where large gatherings of people without masks appear to be creating &ldquo;super spread&rdquo; events where the many attendees get the virus and carry it to others. Bars with little or no food service &mdash; &ldquo;I call them night clubs,&rdquo; Wolf said &mdash; are arguably the biggest target of the restrictions.
				Wolf did not mention any new guidance on school re-opening this fall, but said a big reason for the other restrictions is to keep the pandemic at bay sufficiently to allow students to return safely to the classroom.
				Long only broadly outlined the return-to-school plan, stressing &mdash; as has become the norm for superintendents throughout the county&rsquo;s 11 school districts &mdash; the need to be flexible. The three options are face-to-face instruction for all students, a hybrid with some attending in-class lessons and others learning remotely, or a return to remote-only learning forced upon districts abruptly when Wolf ordered all schools closed March 16.
				&ldquo;Each building will have very different needs,&rdquo; Long said, adding that more details will be announced later. He also said the board must finalize plans at the August monthly meeting.
				Special education Director Mary Kratz announced the district is working on meeting another mandate prompted by the pandemic. &ldquo;We are preparing a plan to assess every identified student (with special needs) upon return to brick and mortar schools,&rdquo; she said. The assessment will be used &ldquo;to address any academic regression&rdquo; the students may have developed due to the early closing of schools in the spring.
				Keeping special education students on track in their academic progress has been a common concern voiced by district administrators since the closure order because personal attention can be so crucial to their success.
				The assessment and plan must be done in three months, Kratz said.

Northwest Area OKs re-opening plan