LANCASTER, Pa. — The School District of Lancaster’s board voted Nov. 17 to temporarily return its elementary schools to full virtual learning.
The Lancaster Education Association, a teachers’ union that represents about 1,000 Lancaster City teachers, organized a rally at McCaskey East High School prior to the school board meeting to support the return to remote learning.
The rally supported a plan to return to fully remote classes from Nov. 30 to Jan. 25, the date on which the district’s middle and high schools are scheduled to begin a blended learning schedule. The period of remote classes would coincide with the holiday season, a time when many families may gather and potentially spread coronavirus.
“When Thanksgiving comes around, our kids get out and meet family. Anything can happen. We're looking to having our teachers safe in school and keeping our kids safe,” said Jason Molloy, president of the Lancaster Education Association and a physical education teacher in the district.
Guidelines from the Pennsylvania Departments of Health and Education suggest school districts teach a full remote learning model if they are within counties with “substantial” community spread.
Substantial community spread is defined as a county having an incidence rate of 100 incidents per 100,000 people or greater, or a positivity rate of 10 percent or greater.
Lancaster County has an incidence rate of 203.8 per 100,000 people and a positivity rate of 9.1 percent as of Nov. 13, according to the state Department of Health.
Lancaster County joins a growing list of counties with substantial community spread. As of Nov. 13, 59 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties met the threshold substantial community spread. Only three counties—Cameron, Forest and Sullivan—remain in the threshold for low community transmission.
Teachers at the rally said they would feel safer teaching from home.
“It's hard choices here, but I believe the safety of our students and teachers and community are what we really need to focus on first,” said Laura Whetstone, an English language development teacher at Buchanan Elementary School.
More than a dozen community members advocated for moving online during the public comment section of the school board meeting.
Superintendent Damaris Rau, however, spoke in favor of staying the course of blended learning. She cited the district’s low coronavirus case numbers; its 13 elementary schools have reported a total of 25 positive cases.
“Unless the state shuts down all nonessential workers and closes schools, requiring our kindergarten to grade five students to go fully remote, [the schools] will not make much of an impact on community transmission,” Rau said.
Rau also spoke on the harms of virtual learning to students’ wellbeing.
“The stifling social isolation of online learning has an effect on students and parents worry about their child’s learning and mental health,” Rau said.
The board ultimately unanimously voted to approve the return to online learning.