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Game Chateau announces closure due to new restrictions

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Novena to St. Ann to begin July 18 at St. Aloysius

In a joint media teleconference Thursday with state Health Secretary Rachel Levine, Education Secretary Pedro Rivera stressed during opening remarks that the state could not offer a &ldquo;one size fits all&rdquo; plan for safe re-opening of schools because circumstances vary so much across the Commonwealth.
				But pressed on what he thought would be the best proposal, Rivera opted for the one most local districts seem to be picking.
				&ldquo;If I have to take into account both the student health and academics, I&rsquo;d say a hybrid approach is a good model,&rdquo; he said.
				Local plans
				The hybrid model in some variations has been chosen by several local districts as the way school will start: about half the students in school on certain days while the other half do remote learning at home, with the two groups switching in some pattern that gets both in school the same number of days.
				Greater Nanticoke Area, for example, announced one group will be in school Monday and Tuesday while the other will be in school Thursday and Friday. All students will learn remotely Wednesday while the schools undergo a deep cleaning (daily cleaning will also be done). Wyoming Valley West has a plan to have two groups alternate, so the same group of students would be in school Monday, Wednesday and Friday one week and Tuesday and Thursday the next.
				But all local districts, including those two, have additional plans to meet any changes, from all students in school with precautions to all students learning at home. Reached after the state media conference, Dallas Superintendent Tom Duffy summed up what many area superintendents have said upon unveiling their plans.
				&ldquo;I think the story here is that there are a lot of uncertainties and things can change day to day,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We use words like &lsquo;nimble&rsquo; and &lsquo;pivot.&rsquo; Because we&rsquo;re educators, we&rsquo;re going to plan for and stay optimistic about bringing students back every day, but we&rsquo;re planning for other scenarios.&rdquo;
				At Monday&rsquo;s monthly School Board meeting, Dallas District Operations Manager Jason Rushmer said that, unless things change regarding the COVID-19 pandemic in the area, school will open with an &ldquo;in-person restricted&rdquo; plan, meaning all students would come in person but a lot of modifications would be made to try to keep students safe, including mask wearing, one-way hallways, expansion of lunch into the gymnasium, students staying in one room as much as possible and other efforts.
				Duffy said Thursday that&rsquo;s still the intent, but added that so much information was coming out of the state and other agencies the district has to process the new guidelines and &ldquo;figure out what it means in operation plans.&rdquo;
				Mask wearing stressed
				Both Rivera and Levine repeatedly stressed the importance of wearing face masks and following social distancing and hygiene protocols, not just when school starts but right now. She cited Gov. Tom Wolf&rsquo;s new restrictions on social gathering and some businesses, particularly restaurants and bars, announced Wednesday.
				&ldquo;One of the things we&rsquo;ve heard from students is that they are anxious to get back to school,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;The actions they take now will determine what school looks like to them then. I want to emphasize that mitigation efforts released yesterday are very important now in terms of how they will influence school later.&rdquo;
				Both said in-person instruction is the best option, but safety for students and staff can&rsquo;t be ignored. Citing dramatic increases in infection rates in several states recently, Levine said &ldquo;We all agree being back in school is best, but if we&rsquo;r not doing the right things, taking COVID-19 seriously, you can see what happens in a state where the governor and state have let it burn. Look at Florida.&rdquo;
				Florida has been reporting record-setting numbers of daily positive test results, nearly hitting 14,000 on Thursday
				Asked how the guidelines for distancing and masks will work with special needs students who require close personal and even one-on-one attention, Levine said &ldquo;special accommodations will need to be made. If you&rsquo;re not able to wear a mask don&rsquo;t have to wear a mask. If you can&rsquo;t have social distancing then they won&rsquo;t.&rdquo;
				But she used the example to again stress the importance of following protocols in all other situations. &ldquo;This highlights how important it is to follow the rules to protect those individuals. By protecting the community we are protecting those individuals.&rdquo;

Hybrid return to school may be best, Pa. education chief says