Summer vacation is arriving quickly and everyone is looking forward to the time when we can all gather without masks. But for Littlestown Area School District students there are still three more weeks of classes before the party can begin.
During this week’s work session and regular board meeting of the LASD Board, District Compliance Officer Carolyn Fiaski and Superintendent Christopher Bigger updated the members on the Health and Safety Plan for the last three weeks of school as well as the upcoming 2021-2022 school year.
“We have received a flurry of changes around guidance,” said Bigger. “I want to get right to the point on the most difficult one, masks. Masks will stay on inside the building and in vehicles through the rest of the year. Outside, masks will come off.”
Fiaski reiterated that all decisions on the Health and Safety Plan in regards to COVID-19 are based on the best possible information received from the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH). Bigger informed board members that between the CDC and the DOH the school district has had inconsistent guidance.
Fall Instruction Will be Different
As Adams County and the country comes out of the pandemic, the LASD Health and Safety Plan will have major changes for the 2021-2022 school year.
The primary model for students will be face-to-face classes beginning in August 2021, and blended live-stream will not be available as a COVID opt-out. Only students who are required to quarantine will be allowed to use the blended live-stream model. Lincoln Edge will only be for students with a physician’s note who are at high risk of illness in accordance with CDC COVID guidelines or in other special circumstances.
The LASD schools will continue to follow healthy hygiene practices in classrooms, including the washing of hands and disinfecting surfaces. Students, staff, and faculty are reminded that staying home when sick is the best policy to keep everyone healthy. During the new school year, there will be an increase in the air circulation by using the heating/air conditioning and ventilation system and box fans. The LASD administration will notify staff, families, and the public of school policy changes in the classroom.
Parts of the Health and Safety Plan that will be eliminated for 2021-22 will be: cohorting and grouping students together for the entire day, bus seating arrangements, outside tents, one-way hallway traffic, small groups and classroom seating restrictions, concession stand restrictions, Early Dismissal Friday, and athletic temperature screening. Fogging/disinfecting of classrooms and buses will move from being a daily operation to being done on a weekly basis.
With the new Health and Safety Plan for the school year, classes will resume as many remember them to be; face-to-face, with school events and athletics, and community.
Charles (Chuck) Stangor is Gettysburg Connection's Owner, Publisher, and Editor in Chief. I would like to hear from you. Please contact me at cstangor@gettysburgconnection.org.
Christina Grim grew up in Shippensburg, PA, Franklin County, and graduated from Shippensburg Area High School. She is an experienced interviewer, researcher, and news reporter, having worked for the Shippensburg News-Chronicle as a staff reporter during college. Driven by the desire to know the facts and answers to today’s issues, she takes seriously the importance of providing the best reporting possible. Ms. Grim earned her Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications from Messiah College and has worked in her field, either in print or radio/streamed media for the last 25 years. As a single mother, she has learned that the best things in life come from hard work and multi-tasking. She is the mother of two adult children and two cats