Masks advised but not required when school starts
LOWER POTTSGROVE >> Students, staff and visitors to Pottsgrove schools will not be required to wear masks when school starts later this month.
However, the health and safety plan adopted by the school board “recommends” universal masks be worn when indoors.
The six-page plan was written over the summer and adopted by an 8-1 board vote Tuesday night.
Board member Bill Parker cast the only no vote.
Unlike some districts, where the debate over masks has been heated and caustic, only two parents addressed the mask issue at the Pottsgrove meeting.
Both urged the board to refrain from requiring masks.
COVID-19 “has had no meaningful health impact on our children,” parent Catherine Coppa told the school board. “Schools are not super-spreaders. As a parent, I would like to say enough.”
Saying he supports “truth, health and freedom,” parent Andrew Korman said the debate about masks has become political and highlighted what he said were impacts to oral health resulting from constant mask-wearing.
Pottsgrove plans to provide in-person instruction five days a week “unless an emergency declaration prevents in-person learning. In addition, Pottsgrove School District will offer a virtual option using third-party providers,” according to the plan.
However, students will not be able to participate remotely in “live-stream classes,” as occurred during the last school year, should they be quarantined at home. Rather, work will be assigned off-line.
“In alignment with the Montgomery County Office of Public Health, the district recommends universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to schools, regardless of vaccination status or school district level of community transmission,” according to the plan.
District spokesman
“In alignment with the Montgomery County Office of Public Health, the district recommends universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to schools, regardless of vaccination status or school district level of community transmission.”
— From the district’s six-page plan
Gary DeRenzo confirmed that language means, for the time being, masks are optional, although, as per federal law, they will be required on school buses regardless of vaccination status.
Daniel Vorhis, Pottsgrove’s director of education and assessment who outlined the plan at the board meeting, said less emphasis will be made on deep cleaning this year as the most recent science indicates the virus is not as frequently passed on through surfaces.
However, efforts will be made to maintain social distancing of three feet in all classrooms, he said.
Additionally, “fully vaccinated individuals who are asymptomatic who are deemed close contacts to COVID positive individuals will NOT be required to quarantine, unless specifically advised by county, state, or federal health officials,” the plan states.
The plan also states that “if both a COVID-19 positive student and an unvaccinated student who is exposed were wearing masks and practicing social distancing of at least three feet, the exposed student will not be identified as a close contact and will not need to quarantine.”
However, “the district will require an isolation period for anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 for the period of time recommended and required by the Montgomery County Office of Public Health, the Pennsylvania Department of Health, and the CDC.”
The plan indicates that “rapid antigen testing may be used to identify students who are symptomatic while on school grounds.”
As for vaccinations, Pottsgrove “will to pursue partnerships with county and local health organizations to offer future vaccination clinics in school district facilities for students, staff, family members, and community members” as well as post information about where vaccinations are available.
Both Vorhis and Superintendent David Finnerty emphasized that the plan is subject to change, should conditions change, something that looks increasingly possible as the surge in the delta variant of COVID-19 is pushing the number of positive cases higher throughout southeast Pennsylvania.