HARRISBURG, Pa. —
The 2019-2020 school year was one of the state’s first casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic, ending March 13. Education officials now hope to restart the next school year fresh. Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera told lawmakers Monday he expects students to return to school in the fall.
The announcement comes as some health officials warn students are more likely to be exposed to coronavirus at school, where they have contact with lots of other kids.
Online learning may be the safer alternative, since no effective treatment is expected in the immediate future. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, on Tuesday told the U.S. Senate it’s a “bridge too far” for a vaccine to be ready this summer.
“Even at the top speed we're going we don't see a vaccine playing in the ability of individuals to get to school this term,” Fauci said.
Pennsylvania schools will likely open anyway, the Department of Education confirmed in a statement Wednesday:
“The Department of Education fully expects students to return to school in the fall in some capacity and is currently developing a plan to help guide schools as they prepare for the new academic year.
The health, wellness and safety of students, staff and communities remains the top priority, and the guidance will be grounded in the science and recommendations from the state Department of Health, current research on school reopenings and stay-at-home orders from the governor’s office. PDE will provide a framework of strategies to assist schools within the coming weeks.”
The safety guidelines to be released in the next few weeks will not apply a blanket solution for all schools, Rivera said. Rather, each district will choose the safety protocols that make the most sense for its students.
“We’ll need to make sure, in terms of all the different metrics and models that we look at, that that would be safe to do,” said Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine.
Safety measures could include staggering classes, extra bus runs and social distancing.