Will students have to wear masks to school? Pa. superintendents face tough choices for fall

"Not only is this a logistical challenge, but there is also the loss of collaboration and cooperative learning that kids typically enjoy in school.”

• By Christine Vendel/PennLive

Like most superintendents across the state, Middletown Area School District Superintendent Lori Suski would like to have kids back in classrooms five days a week in the fall.

But she knows that may not be possible because of COVID-19. And that’s why she, and other superintendents across the state, are facing tough decisions about how to best educate students while keeping everyone safe.

While superintendents still grapple with how to finish out this school year through remote learning, they are preparing for three possible options to start the next school year: Full return to brick and mortar schools, full remote learning or a hybrid plan where students attend school in-person part-time while joining their class online on other days.

Options that bring kids back into schools would then likely require social-distancing measures, or masks, or both.

The hybrid plan would group students into cohorts to reduce the number of students in school buildings and allow for expanded social distancing if that’s still necessary. With fewer students, desks could be placed six feet apart and students could spread out on buses and in the hallways. If students can remain apart, they may not need to wear masks. Some medical experts have said masks or face shields should be considered for staff and older students only.

Suski has serious concerns about requiring students to wear masks all day. It’s more likely students and teachers would have to wear masks if there is still community spread of the virus in the fall and school populations remain high inside buildings.

“I know how hard it is to breathe in a mask when grocery shopping for an hour, so to think that students and staff will be wearing masks for 7 plus straight hours is tough to imagine,” she said. “Schools are social environments, and most classes have up to 25 students in them. Our classrooms aren’t large enough to put 25 kids six feet apart. Not only is this a logistical challenge, but there is also the loss of collaboration and cooperative learning that kids typically enjoy in school.” Her district, like many others, typically don’t seat students in rows anymore.

“Teachers group students in pairs or quads because they do a lot of activities where partners are used or small groups are formed to work on hands-on activities. School is a very interactive place,” Suski said. “The thought of going back to rows is taking us ten steps backwards in where we want our classrooms to be.”

And then there’s the challenge of how to structure physical education and other specialty classes.

“Kids are always in close proximity in gym class as they practice skills in structured, planned games and activities,” Suski said. “I also worry about music classes. Singing and playing a musical instrument cannot be done easily while wearing a mask, yet those two activities have high risk for spreading droplets through the air. Art classes share supplies between groups of students so a lot of handwashing and sanitizing would be necessary or we would have to provide individual supplies for each student in art classes.”

Many districts are looking closely at hybrid options for the fall since they would allow some in-person instruction and also allow schools room for public health measures.

“We will need to look at our numbers and our spaces to determine whether we can divide the population into an A/B schedule or an A/B/C or A/B/C/D schedule,” Suski said, “whereby students alternate days coming in to the brick-and-mortar classroom.”

Under one example, cohort A would go to school on Mondays and Wednesdays and cohort B would go on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Teachers then would use Fridays for planning, Suski said.

In another possible model, cohort A would attend on Monday-Wednesday-Friday one week with cohort B going Tuesday and Thursday, then switching the following week.

“That would mean that in a 10-day or two-week time span, students have every other school day in the brick-and-mortar setting with the opposite days at home joining the class remotely on Zoom (video conference.)

“If we have to divide into three or four groups,” Suski said, “that would further reduce the time in brick-and-mortar. We are small enough that I think we can probably make it work with two cohorts.”

Other options for school districts include staggering arrival and dismissal times, which reduces mixing of students but doesn’t necessarily reduce the population enough to create social-distance easily. A staggered schedule also could be a costly and logistical nightmare for transportation.

Limiting the number of students on a bus would mean increasing the number of buses, drivers and routes, which many districts can’t afford. This could be even more challenging considering a nationwide bus driver shortage.

“You may have to make runs two to three times, just to stagger times, or bring in more busses to transport fewer kids at one time,” DiRocco said. “You’re not going to be able to load 50-60 kids on a bus anymore and do social distancing.”

Installing plexiglass also presents similar logistical and financial challenges, according to EducationDive.com.

“People don’t realize, it’s not about the money, it’s also about the resources,” Debra Pace, superintendent of Osceola County School District in Florida told the education news organization. “Can you find the shields and can you find the resources to install them on 300 buses between now” and when school starts?

Hybrid plans also bring serious challenges.

First off, working parents may need to find childcare if younger students aren’t going to be in class five days a week or if arrival times are pushed back.

Then there’s the additional stress on teachers, who would need to prepare both online and in-person lessons and keep different cohorts of students on track.

“We would need to determine how we are going to provide teachers the time to do all that,” Suski said. “In theory, it may look possible on paper, but the reality is that remote teaching is a lot of work!”

School districts also would need some regulatory relief from the state to waive the 180- day requirement for in-person lessons.

Assuming children can report back to school buildings in Pennsylvania in the fall, they could face a whole new set of protocols, including temperature checks at the door, hand-washing stations and markings on the floor to help keep kids apart.

The additional costs of staffing to monitor and transport children would come at the same time districts would need to purchase additional items from masks to thermometers to disinfectants. Meanwhile, local funding for districts is expected to drop by $1 billion across the state, according to the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials.

Other possible changes for the fall include having teachers go into different classrooms to teach groups of students instead of the other way around, to reduce movement and mixing of students.

“Are you going to send 250-300 kids to cafeteria? Probably not,” DiRocco said. “The cafeteria will probably have to come to classroom. They will likely deliver meals to the classroom where kids can eat six feet apart.”

Schoolwide assemblies, field trips and packed football stadiums that bring in fans from other parts of the state also might be on hold for a while.

“I think initially, until a vaccine or an effective treatment, you’re probably not going to have a lot of assemblies, and there probably won’t be spectators at high school athletic events until we can be assured the gatherings aren’t going to spread the virus.”

Superintendents are meeting with Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera by intermediate unit regions this week to discuss concerns as they begin re-entry planning.

Mark Leidy, superintendent of the Mechanicsburg Area School District, said they have a core team reviewing options and researching guidelines that are being shared from this region of the country and beyond.

“I anticipate the core team will divide and expand into several groups to review the specifics for starting school in the 2020-2021 school year,” he said. “Those specifics include, but are not limited to transportation, common areas, class sizes, switching classes, curriculum and assessment, child care, extracurricular activities and many more.”

School officials should decide specifics for their districts by the beginning of August, at the latest, DiRocco said, and each district’s plan likely will look different depending on its size, resources, location, and the spread of COVID-19 in its area.

“I don’t think you’ll see a lot of uniformity among districts, unless the state puts out specific directives,” DiRocco said, noting that the state generally gives guidance, not directives.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released guidance for the fall that leaves most decisions to local leaders, telling school officials to consult their local public health department.

The national guidance varies depending on whether there is “community spread” of the virus in the fall. If there is minimal to moderate community spread, the CDC suggests increased cleaning and disinfection, staggered arrival and dismissal times, monitoring of attendance, and separate areas to hold students who start to feel ill while at school to avoid a crowded health office.

Schools also should discourage mixing of students in common areas and “perfect attendance” awards next year, so students will stay home if they don’t feel well.

As it stands, classes are set to begin Monday Aug. 24.

But there has been some discussion among superintendents, particularly in Cumberland County, of potentially delaying the opening to Sep. 8., after Labor Day.

Some districts are adopting this alternative calendar and will hold it as an option to be decided upon once August arrives.

Suski is considering that option, but said her preference is to be ready for classes on Aug. 24.

“I don’t really see what difference two more weeks will make,” she said, “and I know that parents are very anxious to return to some level of normalcy so they can get back to work, too. The only possible benefit of starting after Labor Day would be additional time to figure out transportation for a hybrid model.”

The Middletown district, like some others, also runs its own full-time cyber program, the Raider Academy, as an option for students grade 6-12. That option could be expanded this year to elementary students, Suski said.

“We have the ability to provide a full-time cyber option for students who do not want to attend the brick-and-mortar school,” she said. “We currently have approximately 100 students who attend Raider Academy, and we do anticipate that the program may grow next year if parents are not comfortable with their children returning to school due to COVID-19.

The Harrisburg School District is launching its own Virtual Learning Academy in the fall for the same reason.

But parents aren’t the only ones concerned: So are teachers, especially older ones with health problems that put them at greater risk of COVID-19 complications.

A USA Today poll published Tuesday said one in five teachers say they are unlikely to go back to school if their classrooms reopen in the fall, a potential massive wave of resignations.

Retaining teachers and finding substitute teachers already had been serious challenges for many school districts, even before the pandemic hit.

“I worry about the health and well-being of our teachers and staff,” Suski said. “We could see more classes needing substitutes if teachers become ill which again can disrupt the flow of instruction…We know that people may be asymptomatic, and our students could be carriers that spread the virus to our teachers. We will need to take precautions to protect our staff as well as our students.”

The number of COVID-19 cases is now declining in many parts of the state, where the governor has lifted most counties from the most-restrictive red status to yellow.

“If we could get to early August and have the majority of state yellow or green, we hope we can open up schools all across the state,” DiRocco said. “But that very well may end up being a county by county decision. We’ll just have to wait and see.

“Everyone is hoping for a vaccine early in fall, but that may not necessarily happen either,” he said. “If it doesn’t happen and some schools can’t open, then districts have to be ready for A) either some kind hybrid option….or do we go back into some closure or some period of time and divert back into online learning again and this time be better prepared for it.”

Suski said it will “be a long summer of planning, and unfortunately, we know that no matter what decisions are made, there will be people that are not happy.

“In the end, it comes down to risk management. What is the risk of returning vs. the benefit, and how can we best lower the risk to an acceptable level by considering every possible alternative since we know that there is definitely a benefit to having our students back in school?” Educators miss their students and take seriously their legal obligation to provide a free, appropriate public education for all students, Suski said.

“It is my professional opinion that face-to-face instruction is still what is best for students,” she said. “The question is how best to do that while maintaining the health and safety of all.”

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