By SARIT LASCHINSKY

Special to The Press

During the Aug. 4 Northwestern Lehigh school board workshop, Superintendent Jennifer Holman made note of several updates to the district’s health and safety plan which was approved back in June.

She said that information had been sent out to the community, as was done in the past regarding plan changes, but she wanted to present them at the workshop to promote “transparency.”

Regarding the district’s face mask policy, which had been originally approved to account for the expiration of Gov. Tom Wolf’s statewide universal masking order, Holman said there were two changes to this section.

One change addressed a federal order from January in which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention require face coverings to be worn on public transportation regardless of vaccination status.

Holman said on school transportation services, Northwestern Lehigh students or other riders must wear face coverings when aboard school vehicles.

Bus drivers do not need to wear face coverings if they are the only person aboard.

Additionally, a second change requires students or staff to wear face coverings when they are in nurses’ suites or athletic training rooms.

Holman said the district will have disposable masks on-hand if one is needed.

She also made note of an additional comment on the plan stating if federal or state orders and requirements are issued, or if there is a change detected in local district data, these changes will be enforced by the district.

Holman said some measures have been put in place to mitigate and respond to potential community spread or a COVID-19 outbreak in a school building.

Regarding social distancing, which is encouraged to be “to the maximum extent feasible and appropriate” in the plan, Holman said recent information states when at all possible, students or other individuals should not stand or sit face-to-face in close proximity.

Instead, positioning people in a diagonal or zigzag pattern is preferred, as well as holding classes in gyms, auditoriums, other large spaces or outdoors when possible.

Holman reported other parts of the plan addressing cleaning, hand washing, sanitization and ventilation will remain the same.

Regarding contact tracing, isolation and quarantine, the plan states Northwestern Lehigh will continue the established procedures for COVID-19 positive cases as established by the Department of Health, until otherwise deemed unnecessary.

Communications and tracking of positive COVID-19 cases within the district will be made available on the Northwestern Lehigh COVID-19 resource page.

Furthermore, Holman said the district had offered vaccination clinics in May and June which were well-attended, adding there are plans to offer additional clinics if or when vaccinations are approved for children age 12 and under.

On the topic of building and facility usage, Holman said the district wants to try and maintain in-person learning as much as possible, and if building usage was limited to Group 1 (school-sponsored/sanctioned) and Group 2 (school-related but non-sponsored) individuals, this would help cleaning staff focus on sanitizing classrooms and other critical spaces.

Holman said visitors and school volunteers will be required to self-screen.

Unvaccinated adult visitors will be asked to wear face coverings.

She said with the exception of school board meetings, the district will look at having student meetings be virtual during the school year.

Board meetings returned to an in-person setting at the beginning of August and public comments also returned to being in-person only.

Holman noted, however, they will continue to be livestreamed as well.

The plan will continue to be adapted as necessary with updates being sent to families.

“We’re certainly looking at returning to some sort of a normal year,” Holman said. “I’m sure there will be some boulders we’ll have to navigate together.

“I don’t think it will be completely smooth, but we’ll do it together, and certainly we’ve put plans in place to maximize our education in school as much as we can, and do it as safely as possible.”

Board President Willard Dellicker said it was important to let the public and parents know about the district’s mask policy, particularly given recent news coverage and increased polarization around the subject.

“I think it’s important we get the word out that our health and safely plan, regarding masks and distancing, have these requirements, and that is masks are voluntary and they are mandatory in all school vehicles, and the nurses’ suite and the trainers’ offices, and that’s it,” he said.

Holman noted there was one potential caveat to this voluntary policy, noting advice had just been received from the CDC recommending mask wearing if a vaccinated person comes in close contact to a positive COVID-19 case.

She said the district will need to internally discuss whether masking will remain a recommendation or become a requirement in the case of such a close-contact scenario.

Board member Todd Leiser said as a matter of clarity to the community, if changes are made to the policy, there should be an explanation of what guidelines or requirements led to the modification.

“If the CDC says ‘x,’ we do ‘y.’ If the state says ‘x,’ we do ‘y,’” he said, “Are there points of changing this policy. What’s driving that, so it’s not a willy-nilly decision on any one person’s part.”

Leiser said several surrounding school boards have voted to not follow certain requirements and asked of the board.

“Do we at some point, want to vote on some of these and say ‘we will not?’” he asked the board.

Dellicker said the board needed to wait and see what the situation was before any blanket statement could be made about choosing to follow guidelines or not.

Holman said for the past year the district has been following requirements.

Using the topic of vaccinations as an example, she said the CDC is currently recommending all individuals age 12 and older get vaccinated but explained this was only a recommendation, not a requirement for school attendance.

Holman said, however, in the future if the Department of Health establishes an immunization requirement to attend school, the district will implement it.

Holman added the district’s “decision points” included federal and state mandates or requirements, local Zip code data indicating substantial community spread, or information from school buildings indicating case numbers as reference for determining which actions to take in order to avoid a closure.

“If it means a student has to wear a mask because something is happening in a building, that’s a better alternative to a closure and them not being in school,” she said.

In response to questions about the education options for the school year, Holman said Northwestern Lehigh’s digital academy was the only alternative to full-time instruction at the district.

No cohort or hybrid learning models are planned, and students will have five days of full-time, in-person instruction.

Holman said the district will still need to figure out plans for students who might be forced to quarantine.

She said there are a number of providers for the digital academy, and home-schooling will also continue to remain an option.