Radnor Senior High School issued the following announcement.
Dear Radnor Community and Staff,
We continue to meet weekly with the Chester County Health Department, the CHOP PolicyLab, and other medical and educational leaders in our community. We are aware of recent articles, including in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer, concerning new recommendations for schools to return to virtual learning next week. Understandably, there are questions about our response to these recommendations.
The Chester County Health Department has been and continues to be the health authority for Delaware County. Aware of the recommendation from the CHOP PolicyLab for schools to return to virtual learning, the CCHD sent every superintendent in Delaware County a letter found here yesterday. Below is the most critical part of the letter.
“At this time, the Chester County Health Department is in support of Delaware County schools continuing in their current instructional model plans while continuing to monitor data against the thresholds. It is also important for schools to make a renewed commitment to ensure that all prevention measures are adhered to on a daily basis. While we have cases in schools, the majority of the cases are coming from outside activities. Despite this, we have evidence of in-school transmission when the prevention measures are not being followed. Schools are in a unique position to quickly identify cases, exposures and close contacts, and make timely decisions for sending students and staff home. This results in the spread of the virus being limited once identified.”
We all know this is a fluid situation and circumstances can change quickly. We are not planning to move to Phase 3: Fully Virtual next week based on the recommendation of CCHD and our Radnor experience to date. While changes to virtual instruction could happen at any time, we would hope that any decisions would provide ample time for our families, staff, and students to prepare. Additionally, any changes to Phase 1: Full-Day In-Person would be made two weeks in advance of the change.
Our high school Fall sports season has only one week left. While our teams have done an incredible job following protocols and limiting spread, we are going to ask all our Fall athletes to move online next week as one more mitigation strategy to limit interactions and keep our classrooms open as community spread increases.
The continued rise of cases in our county is certainly concerning. According to CCHD, small social gatherings, recreation, and travel sports are contributing to the spread. We all must continue to mask and stay home when we don’t feel well. If we want to keep schools open, we must adhere to our protocols and limit social gatherings.
Have a good night and thank you for your support.
Ken
Kenneth E. Batchelor
Superintendent of Schools
Original source can be found here.
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