The Tamaqua Area School District’s first day of school is set for Aug. 26.

Superintendent Ray Kinder spoke about some final preparations for the 2020-21 school year at Tuesday night’s school board committee meeting.

“We’re going to have to be as fluid as we possibly can,” Kinder said. “We’re trying to do it to support our students. I wouldn’t look at us making changes as lack of preparation or not being sure of what we want to do. It’s being able to learn and go through a process that none of us have really gone through before.”

Tamaqua expects to move forward with a full in-person reopening plan, but does include a separate virtual option for students.

New Pennsylvania Department of Education recommendations were posted earlier this week, currently suggesting that a school in Schuylkill County should open under either a hybrid or full virtual plan based on their current data.

“The information from the governor’s office yesterday, two weeks before everyone is getting ready to start school, indicating recommendations or guidelines - however you want to characterize them - in terms of their recommendations based upon virus levels and factors that they weigh heavily,” Kinder said.

“According to that information, it’s recommending a hybrid/blended opening or a full virtual opening. But it does specifically say both in the email that was sent to us, as well as the documents themselves, that these are recommendations and local school districts can make the determinations that they feel is best.”

The 38-page TASD Health and Safety Reopening Plan will be put to vote at next week’s board meeting.

“In the plan, you can see that we identified and directed to construct a total reopening with a virtual option. It identifies members of the pandemic team and addresses specific things like cleaning, sanitizing, disinfecting and ventilation,” Kinder said.

“It talks about social distancing and monitoring students’ health. There are other specifics such as masking and whatnot. It indicated how we will professionally develop for any of the procedures that we are going to implement and also indicates the methods of communications that have been used in order to gather information as well as advertise it out there.”

Handbooks

It seems that there are many unanswered questions throughout the community. However, Tamaqua student and faculty handbooks with answers to many concerns will be available by the end of the week.

“As mentioned at previous meetings, we believe that the handbooks that we will be putting out are much more of what people have questions and concerns about,” Kinder said. “The principals have been doing a tremendous job in putting together these manuals.”

Kinder explained there will be one for each level; a high school/virtual handbook, an elementary/virtual edition, as well as an in-person version. Kinder said the handbooks are building-specific and will be on each building’s website.

Mask up

It will be mandatory for students returning to any TASD building to wear a mask or face covering during the school day.

“We will try to build in breaks and create situations where people can be further apart, that they may be able to take them off,” Kinder said. “But the reality is, if you’re coming into the building and you’re going to be there for seven hours a day, you’re going to spend a significant time with a mask or face covering on. If you’re not able to do that, whether it’s for a discomfort level or whatever it might be, I highly encourage you to look at the virtual route through the school district.”

Kinder said that face shields will be supplied to staff and faculty and some are available for students.

“Being able to come back to school is going to be dependent on what we’re doing here to be successful,” said Kinder. “If we have students consistently not wearing masks when they’re supposed to, what’s going to happen is it’s going to cause chaos during the day. Students are going to get reported down to offices; kids are going to be going home because they’re not wearing their masks. … If we want this, as a community, which from our survey results and from the parents - that’s with the understanding of what it’s going to be and what it’s going to look like during the day.”

Students with symptoms

Kinder noted that there will be a designated quarantine or isolation room in each building for any student that is showing signs of COVID-19.

“We’re also trying to work on the language. … We’re trying to figure out ways to be able to communicate effectively and protect the privacy rights of the students. It’s a balancing act of things that we are working on. Anything that we do, to think that every plan and procedure that we have in place - that we’re going to walk in on day one and it’s just going to work like a clock - isn’t accurate. We have to see how things work out. … We’re going to see changes happen, because we’re going to learn as we go along; what works and what doesn’t work.”

Kinder said the county superintendents met on numerous occasions to figure out the best course of action for plenty of hypothetical “what if” scenarios.

“To just say that anybody who coughs or has a fever for a day has to be out of school for weeks at a time - I don’t know how legitimate that is and I don’t know the type of cooperation we’ll get from parents when these things come about. … We’d rather they be honest with us and communicate with us, so we can make the best decisions for their child, for their education, as well as the rest of the students that are there.”