North Pocono School District issued the following announcement.
COVID-19 incidents have increased in Lackawanna County in recent weeks. The Pennsylvania Department of Health reports these incidents on its COVID-19 Early Warning Monitoring System Dashboard, which is updated with the latest information every Friday. NP relies on this data to inform its decisions about the appropriateness of instructional models.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) also utilizes the same information to determine if COVID-19 transmission in a county is “Low”, “Moderate”, or “Substantial”. On Monday, October 19th Lackawanna County was moved into the "substantial" category. The Department of Education tells us that “all virtual” is a recommended model of instruction for districts in a county in the “Substantial” category. PDE also recommends that, “In order to confirm stability of county transmission, when a county’s corresponding threshold changes, school entities should wait to see the results from the next 7-day reporting period before considering a change to their instructional models.” Based on this week's statistics, Lackawanna County may continue in the substantial category for a second week. The status is verified by PDE and the DOH and is usually announced on Monday afternoons.
The North Pocono School District will continue to operate in the hybrid model of instruction, while consulting with the appropriate authorities. On Monday, October 26 at 6:00 the North Pocono School Board will discuss the current Lackawanna County status and the North Pocono School District instructional model. A posting will be made on the district website with details on the meeting.
Thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue on this extremely unpredictable path. The district will update you of any changes to our Health and Safety Plan and will promptly communicate our course of action to all stakeholders.
Thank you.
Bryan
Original source can be found here.
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