Amid the rise in COVID-19 cases in Bucks County, the Pennsbury School District has pledged to return students to classrooms in-person next week.
In a letter to parents on Thursday, Superintendent Dr. Thomas Smith affirmed the plan and updated families.
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Smith said COVID-19 vaccinations are recommended for eligible students, students who are not feeling well should not come to school, temporary remote learning in available for students forced to quarantine, and proper masking, like students wearing a KN-95 mask, is required.
The district plans to end sending emails for individual case notifications. The district’s case dashboard will be updated daily and a weekly email will be sent. Notifications families of students who were close contact with the infected will continue.
“Although there are no perfect solutions to the challenges created by the pandemic, we feel these strategies will help to achieve our goal of keeping our schools open. By working together, we are confident we can achieve this goal,” Smith said.
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Below is Smith’s letter to Pennsbury families:
Dear Pennsbury Families,
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I hope you are having a safe and enjoyable winter break. I am writing to provide you with a brief update regarding our return to school planning. On Monday, January 3, 2022, we will welcome back our students and staff to in-person instruction.
A Layered Approach to Keep Our Students and Staff Safe and Our Schools Open
As expected, we are seeing an uptick in cases in our school community. In anticipation of this, we chose to maintain our layered approach to COVID, which includes proper masking with a quality mask (e.g., KN95), air filtration systems in our classrooms, contact tracing, and quarantining (click here for updated guidelines).
Vaccines are recommended for students five (5) and above. We hope to implement in-district voluntary COVID testing later this month. Details will be shared as soon as we have a start date.
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As a reminder, if your child is not feeling well do not send them to school. Students should be fever-free without medication for 24 hours. Please make sure your school nurse is aware of any specific health conditions your child may have.
Temporary Remote Learning for Individuals on Quarantine
As I shared in my October 15, 2021 update, we deployed classroom cameras throughout the district to provide Temporary Remote Instruction for those students who are quarantining due to a positive test or exposure. TRL allows students to continue their education and connection with their teacher(s) while under quarantine. Please refer to the TRL guidelines available here.
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COVID Notification Changes
We will no longer send individual case notification emails. Instead, each Friday we will be sending a weekly notification of all infectious-while-in-school cases. The district dashboard will continue to be updated daily. We will continue to notify the families of students identified as close contacts.
Supporting students through the pandemic
We are working on expanding our socio-emotional support for our students and staff throughout the pandemic and beyond. This includes a focus on mental health and wellness in our schools. We hope you can join us Tuesday, January 11, 2022, at 7:00 p.m. for Tired of Talking about COVID? Let’s Start Talking About Healing! Details are available here.
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Although there are no perfect solutions to the challenges created by the pandemic, we feel these strategies will help to achieve our goal of keeping our schools open. By working together, we are confident we can achieve this goal. We will continue to review our Health and Safety Plan and make changes as necessary. If you have any questions regarding guidelines for quarantine or returning to school, please contact the school nurse. As always, I am also available to answer any questions you may have.
Sincerely,
Thomas A. Smith, Ed.D. Superintendent of Schools
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