TOWANDA, Pa. — For more than a month, the state has identified Bradford County as having what it calls substantial community spread.
Two school districts in the county have moved classes online, but Towanda Area is one of the school districts sticking with in-person classes.
Classes have been in person in the Towanda Area School District since day one of the school year, and district officials hope to keep it that way.
Since the beginning of the semester, the school district has had a total of six coronavirus cases among students and nine among staff members.
"It's not really feasible to say that you're not going to have any cases, or you're not going to have to deal with it," said Towanda Area Superintendent Dennis Peachey.
In the spring, Bradford County was spared the brunt of the pandemic, but coronavirus cases have been steadily increasing here since September. Hospitalizations are also rising.
For the past several weeks, the positivity rate in Bradford County has been at 10 percent or above.
The Department of Education recommends but does not require school districts in such areas to switch to virtual classes.
"If we're able to kind of control it within our own walls, we feel that the best place, and maybe the safest place for our kids, is actually in school," Peachey said.
While both the elementary school and the high school are staying open, the primary school is closed due to staffing issues.
"It's just the number of staff that are quarantining. It's not necessarily the number of cases that are in that building right now," said Peachey.
Peachey says it's been difficult to resist the pressure to shut down the schools.
"It is very stressful because you just want to do what's right. You want to keep everyone safe, but at the same time, we have a job to do meeting the education needs, and the social needs, and the emotional needs and feeding our kids every day. There's a lot of responsibility that goes with that, and we don't take that lightly."
The superintendent says the Towanda Area School District has offered other options to parents who do not want to send their children to in-person classes.