Good evening,
Yesterday afternoon the Department of Health released a statement that school districts in Pennsylvania must follow the requirement that all students must wear a face covering during the school day.
Last week, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released an update to their guidance strongly recommending children age two and older should wear face coverings at all times to help mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Prior guidance we released in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) stated students in schools could remove their face coverings as long as six feet of social distancing could be maintained. Given this recent change from the AAP, and consistent with the Secretary of Health’s Face Covering Order issued on July 1, 2020, DOH is requiring students wear face coverings at all times while in school, even when six feet of social distancing can be achieved. There are limited exceptions. Visit our Answers to FAQs on Face Coverings/Masks webpage for more information.
The Northeast Bradford School District Board of Directors and administrative staff have worked throughout the summer to prepare a plan for the upcoming school year that we feel is in the best interest of our community.
With this said we have decided to proceed with our re-opening plan with a Hybrid model in the High School and a full return for the Elementary. We regret that we must now require students to wear face coverings throughout the school day. Understand that we will allow for multiple breaks throughout the day as well as encourage the use of our outside facilities whenever possible.
Although we are offering options for returning, we do understand that some of you are considering other educational avenues. Please give our staff an opportunity to offer a Remote Learning option. To gain more information please contact your building level principals. In a remote option your children will have Northeast Bradford teachers teaching your students while they are in the home and will allow for a quick and smooth return to the classroom when you feel comfortable enough to do so. We are also offering our Panther Academy.
Please remember, options that remove students from our district such as: Cyber Charter Schooling and Home Schooling, are not affiliated with the Northeast Bradford School District. We are here to assure you that we take great pride in educating your students and that they are not a number for us. We believe that the school district is the heart of our community and (even through the current struggles) we can offer the best possible education for our students.
Respectfully,
William J. Clark
Superintendent