Philadelphia schools stay virtual as cases spike

PHILADELPHIA » Philadelphia public school students will continue to attend classes virtually for the foreseeable future, school district officials announced Tuesday.

T he a nnouncement comes on the same day that Philadelphia public health officials saw a peak in confirmed virus cases and increased hospitalizations. The school district had planned to begin bringing back younger students for a hybrid in-person instruction model starting Nov. 30, with plans to phase in instruction for students with complex instructional needs and then older students next.

“We hope to see these students back in school before the spring,” said Philadelphia district Superintendent William R. Hite Jr., adding that it would ultimately depend on health experts and infection trends whether that happens.

“The most important thing that is concerning to me, is that we wanted to make sure that children had the appropriate conditions to learn to read, to learn to do math ... and unfortunately in their communities, those conditions don’t always exist, which is why we were doing our best to get children back.”

Ph i la delph ia P ubl ic Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley said of the 95 schools that have been operating with some level of in-person instruction, the city had found only three schools where spread of the virus was likely to have happened inside the school.

Farley said as of Tuesday the city was not recommending those schools shut down, but that could change.