Secretary of education extends school closings to April 6
The Pennsylvania Department of Education extended all school closures for another two weeks, until April 6, as a result of coronavirus.
The announcement came Monday with Gov. Tom Wolf’s stay-at-home order for seven counties. Secretary of Education Pedro A. Rivera said the extended school closure will help “mitigate the spread” of COVID-19.
“Protecting the health and safety of students, families, teachers and all employees who work in our schools is paramount during this national health crisis, and we must continue our efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus,” Rivera said in a press release. “The number of positive cases increases daily, and we’re seeing it spread to more counties. We must adhere to the social distancing guidelines.”
In his release, Rivera said the extension could go beyond April 6 if necessary. When schools do reopen, the administration will be given two days to set up, prepare classrooms and cafeterias, and schedule busing, before students would return on the third day, the release said.
After the schools were initially closed March 13, districts in the area, including Washington, Trinity and Canon-McMillan, started planning online learning programs, many of which are supposed to begin next week. This extension won’t necessary affect those programs.
“It doesn’t change our plans,” Washington Superintendent James Konrad said. “When the governor issued the first two weeks’ closure, we started to anticipate that it might be longer. We’re going to do the best we can with our students and our parents. We have to work together to give kids the best education possible.”
In Greene County, Jefferson-Morgan Superintendent Joseph Orr said the district had anticipated the extension of the closures.
“We were expecting it after the initial two-week closure,” he said. “That wasn’t a surprise.”
Still, Orr’s students only missed a day of school, as they quickly transitioned to online learning. The district, he said, had already been approved for Flexible Instruction Days, to be used for snow or weather emergencies.
“We’re already an online provider for most of our kids,” Orr said. “When this came about, we were pretty well positioned to just modify it a little more to be able to provide for our kids.”
Orr said the teachers came in for training March 16, and the following day students were able to start up school again.
“We’ll be making adjustments and updating the program to make it what we need it to be,” he said. “I couldn’t be more proud of our district.”
The state’s 29 intermediate units will “provide technical assistance to help develop continuity of education plans for all students,” Rivera said in the release. “We know students are eager to engage with their teachers and return to learning,” he said in the release. “Beginning tomorrow, all schools will be able to work with their local intermediate unit to develop instructional plans for all students, including those with disabilities and English language learners.”
Rivera also canceled standardized testing for career and technical education students, including exams from the National Occupational Competency Testing Institute and National Institute of Metalworking Skills. The department had already canceled on Thursday all PSSA testing and Keystone exams for this school year, including the Pennsylvania Alternate System of Assessment.
In response to Wolf’s and Rivera’s announcements Monday, the Office of Commonwealth Libraries directed all public libraries to remain closed through April 6.