District Ponders how to Mitigate Risk
Two-Day-a-Week Plan Considered
The Wallingford-Swarthmore School District plans to open schools for in-person instruction this fall, Superintendent Lisa Palmer wrote in a July 3 email to the school community.
“However,” she continued, “we know school must look different.”
Palmer went on to discuss the district’s tentative plans, which seek to balance the district’s preference for in-person instruction with concerns about the spread of COVID-19.
One likely scenario, she explained, divides students into two cohorts, with each cohort attending school in person two days a week. This would enable some degree of physical distancing. Palmer asserted that most classrooms could be configured to provide four feet of physical distancing between students.
The fifth day could be used for enhanced cleaning.
WSSD’s Pandemic Team has been meeting regularly, with administrators listening to sometimes contradictory input from many governmental and medical resources, including the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
To reopen schools with a degree of safety in mind, administrators have settled on four main strategies.
Screening. Parents will be asked to check children for symptoms daily before they leave for school, and staff should check themselves. Anyone exhibiting symptoms must stay home. On-site temperature checks are being considered.
Distancing. In addition to classroom distancing, buses will likely permit two students per seat, as long as the students wear masks. Logistics for meals, recess, arrivals, and departures are being developed.
Hygiene. Hand sanitizer and other tools, such as plexiglass dividers and disinfectant fogging machines, have been purchased, and regular handwashing times will be embedded in the daily schedule.
Masking. Face coverings will be required for most students and staff. However, the PDE permits some exceptions to the governor’s order on mask-wearing. Students in school may remove masks when engaged in activities, even indoors, as long as they remain six feet apart.
The district is working on plans to support students who get sick or need to stay home for other reasons.
In order to reopen schools, all Pennsylvania school districts must develop a health and safety plan and get it approved by their governing body, which in the case of the WSSD is the school board. The plan must be posted to the district website and submitted to the state education department. Palmer had originally hoped WSSD’s plan would be ready in time to present at a specially called July 6 school board meeting. Now she plans to share it at the board’s next regularly scheduled meeting on July 20.
Palmer invited family members with questions or concerns to email 2020ReopeningComments@wssd.org.
The next board meeting will be Monday, July 20, at 7 p.m. To watch it live or afterwards, go to WSSD’s YouTube Channel.
To submit comments to be read at the board meeting, call 610-892-3470, ext. 1102, and leave a phone message of no more than three minutes. Phoned-in comments must include the commenter’s name, full address, and phone number.
