Pleasant Valley School District intends to stay in the hybrid model for now.

Superintendent Lee Lesisko said at the school board meeting last week that the county’s transmission rates and positivity rates are still a problem. The full-time option is not feasible because the students wouldn’t be 6 feet apart if everyone attended.

“We will adhere to the recommendation of the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Pennsylvania Department of Health and new CDC guidelines. We are hopeful that these organizations will provide school districts across the state further guidance in the near future as to allow relaxation of the 6-foot social distance recommendations. We will continue to monitor the COVID-19 transmission rates in Monroe County. We will follow the science in partnership with the experts at St. Luke’s University Health Network,” he said.

By the numbers

The current percent of positivity in Monroe County is 9.7%, which places the county in a moderate level of transmission of the virus in the community. Even at that, Monroe County is the fourth highest in the state after Perry, Clinton and Pike counties respectively.

Other counties in the region are 8% in Northampton County, 7.9% in Schuylkill, 7.7 in Lehigh, and 6.5% in Carbon County, according to the state Department of Health.

Lesisko said the school district signed an agreement with the DOH to maintain the 6-foot distance. If the district relaxed that requirement and dropped to a minimum of 3 feet and then a group of children get sick because of it, the state could require the school district to go to full remote learning and shut down all activities and sports.

For several weeks, parents have been pleading with the school district to go back full time.

Ashley Yelland of Eldred emailed the school board and the superintendent with such a plea and asked them to take a look at studies that say that transmission of the virus is reduced in as little as 3 feet with mask wearing.

“Just a note, Central Bucks (School District) has recently eliminated their hybrid learning completely and offers two options of five days virtual or five days in-person. I encourage you to review their plan so we may start to put similar safeguards in place at Pleasant Valley so our students can return to school immediately,” Yelland wrote.

“Additionally, according to experts from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the 6-foot distance requirement has a weak scientific basis; recent research suggests 3 feet of distance reduces risk significantly as long as community spread is low; and that mask wearing, as well as proper levels of filtrations and ventilation in classrooms, can go a long way toward reducing viral spread.”

Risks

Lesisko invited two pediatricians from St. Luke’s University Health Network, Dr. Dianne Jacobetz and Dr. Lindy Cibischino, to speak to the school board and public.

Jacobetz discussed the likelihood of children becoming infected with the virus. She said that children are at a low risk of getting infected and spreading the virus within the schools.

“I can tell you that the World Health Organization, so worldwide, there are places throughout that have been using 1 meter as their rule for social distancing,” she said. “However, the CDC and the Department of Health have not yet gone down that route.”

At this time, St. Luke’s guidance is to follow the recommendations of the CDC and DOH, and understand that changes are possible.

Cibischino said she is most concerned about children experiencing depression and anxiety. Before the pandemic, she would see only a couple children a week expressing those feelings. Now, she sees three or four children a day with anxiety and depression.

“That is an amazing jump in numbers,” she said.

These are just the kids who asked for help or were identified through the office screening or whose parents saw a problem.

“I hate to think of all the children who are having anxiety and depression that we’re not capturing because they are not recognizing their symptoms or the parents aren’t recognizing it,” she said.

Cibischino said she recognizes the difficult position the school district is put in and if they feel they must stick with the 6 feet apart, then she thinks they should stick with it.

During public comment, Yelland said she greatly appreciated that the school district asked the doctors to speak.

“I’m a little confused how we are all still sitting here pondering whether we open or not,” she said.