East Penn School District: Remote Instruction For Two Weeks After Thanksgiving Break

Press release from East Penn School District:

November 18, 2020

Dear Parent/Guardian:

With the holiday season quickly approaching, the East Penn administrative team is working to reduce our positive COVID-19 case numbers by moving all students to remote learning for two weeks after the Thanksgiving holiday.

Nine-day contact break: The goal of this nine-day fully remote learning period after Thanksgiving break is to avoid a surge of EPSD community transmission and increase the chances that in-person learning will remain an option. The state is encouraging everyone to minimize social gatherings during the holidays; however, we anticipate increased exposures in a time when local transmission rates are headed in the wrong direction. We also recognize that many colleges will be sending students home at this time which could possibly increase family exposure. This period of remote learning includes the 14-day quarantine period required after exposure and/or required quarantine for travel.

We hope this time period serves as a “contact break” for us to keep everyone safe and possibly turn the tide of cases in our school community. We ask for your help to reduce the number of coronavirus cases in East Penn by following health and safety protocols and being socially responsible in conduct.

Changing from hybrid to remote: We will continue to be transparent about East Penn cases and monitor local data. This period will be a critical time to determine your level of comfort to resume in-person learning. At the secondary level in grades 6-12, students can opt to go fully remote at any time by notifying their school. At the elementary level, the decision to go remote could result in a change of teacher. We would ask that any requests to move an elementary student from hybrid to remote occur by December 9th in order for us to plan accordingly for the second trimester.

Anticipated return to in-person learning: We are hopeful that all of our students who opt for in-person learning will return to hybrid learning on Monday, December 14, 2020. During this temporary shift to remote learning, please continue to report all cases of COVID-19 to your school nurse via email. Thank you in advance for your diligence in helping us mitigate COVID-19 in our school community.

Sincerely,

Kristen Campbell

Superintendent of Schools

This press release was produced by the East Penn School District.The views expressed here are the author’s own.