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COVID-19 Communications

The North Schuylkill School District has been evaluating the return of our students with the implementation of the health and safety protocols that have been put in place, along with the level of COVID-19 community transmission in Schuylkill County. The primary goal of the District is to provide in-person learning five days week with as much normalcy as possible. This week we were notified of three positive COVID cases. The impact of these positive cases on the number of students who need to quarantine approached 60 students, based on Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) and Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) quarantine guidelines. In contrast, 11 students would be in quarantine if we required masking indoors.

With this as the basis of our decision, the North Schuylkill School District is implementing a temporary indoor mask mandate (6 :00 AM – 4:00 PM) effective immediately (August 30, 2021) for:

- All students in grades K-12 regardless of vaccination status.
- All faculty and staff regardless of vaccination status.
- All visitors regardless of vaccination status during normal school hours.

To ensure the greatest likelihood that we will be able to provide in-person instruction five days a week, mandatory masking is necessary. The School Board will revisit this decision at our September 8, 2021 meeting.

Based on National data, Pennsylvania is now considered a COVID-19 “hotspot” and the Delta variant is driving a resurgence. Delta is more infectious and has been characterized as a “younger, sicker, and quicker spreader.” Schuylkill County is now in the “High” transmission level as defined by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Our partners at St. Luke’s University Health Network are recommending “Universal Masking in Schools” for at least the first four to six weeks.

We appreciate and acknowledge the many questions and concerns regarding mask mandates in schools. Based on our current experience with Covid-19 in our two schools, masking is an important step to comply with quarantine guidelines and keep our students in-person five days a week. We are grateful for the support of our community last year in managing through the pandemic and we look forward to working with you as we navigate our new set of challenges. The District will remain committed to adjusting its approach based on the virus’ spread in the community. Realizing COVID-19 will be present throughout the foreseeable future, flexibility will be an utmost priority. We are thankful for your patience and understanding in these unpredictable times.

Health and Safety Update
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Message to Community
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Archived Information
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Important Information Related to COVID-19

Health And Safety Plan:
Click here for a PDF of our plan.

Spartan COVID Tracker:
Click here to view the Tracker.