The Department of Education is recommending that local schools not open with full in-person instruction, based on the current level of disease transmission in the area.

On Monday, the department released new guidelines for districts to decide between in-person and remote learning during COVID-19.

Local superintendents said it’s a help for deciding how to open, but there are other factors in play, such as space available for social distancing.

“We have been looking for guidance from the state and this clarifies some of those issues. It’s a good tool for us to use,” said Dave McAndrew Jr., superintendent of Panther Valley School District.

In the guidelines released Monday, the Department of Education recommends that schools in counties where the virus is more widespread hold classes online, or with limited students.

But it is still up to individual school districts to decide exactly how they’ll reopen school. All local school districts have adopted COVID-19 health and safety plans, which include plans for in-person classes for all students, some students, or no students.

The department’s recommendations are based on public health data from the Department of Health. Each week, they plan to release a chart showing the “level of community transmission” in each county - low, moderate or substantial.

Anyone can look at the statistics used to make the chart. They’re updated on a daily basis through the Department of Health’s “Early Warning Monitoring System.”

“We can look at it weekly or daily even to see if we’re having a spike in our county or not,” McAndrew said.

As of Aug. 7, all local counties are currently in a “moderate” level of transmission.

The Department of Education’s current recommendation for “moderate” counties is full-remote instruction or blended learning.

Several local school districts have already been planning to have a reduced number of students in the building when they begin the year.

“The metrics we received from the Department of Education earlier today will help us to monitor the level of community COVID-19 transmissions, which is going to be a big help. Does it change our plans as of today? No. but it gives us another tool to aid in our decision,” said Lee Lesisko, superintendent of Pleasant Valley School District.

Pleasant Valley and Jim Thorpe already planned to open at 50% capacity, because their schools aren’t large enough to require students to remain 6 feet apart at all times. Students will be divided by last names: basically A-L and M-Z, with each group getting two days of in-person instruction. The rest of the week, they’ll do remote learning from home.

“Right now we’re looking at a blended model to open up school, which would be our yellow stage,” Jim Thorpe Superintendent John Rushefski said. “It’s based on the 6 foot social distancing.”

Every local school district has created its own online school for families who aren’t ready to return for in-person classes. It’s possible if enough students enroll in online classes, 6-foot social distancing could be possible.

Northern Lehigh decided to change its health and safety plan based on the new recommendations. School board members voted Monday night to remove the full in-person instruction option.

Superintendent Matthew Link said even prior to the new recommendations, his administration favored a hybrid of in-person and remote learning.

“Lehigh and Northampton counties are in the Moderate Level of Community Transmission and (the Department of Education) is recommending a Hybrid (Blended) model or a full online model. We have elected a hybrid model like this one. This was going to be the administrative recommendation even prior to the release of new guidance yesterday,” Link said.