Dear School Community,

We continue to see isolated, positive COVID cases coming into our schools. Although we have accepted that cases will emerge from time to time, the current phenomenon at the middle school has become troublesome. Through ongoing consultation with the Chester County Health Department (CCHD), the department believes that the middle school is experiencing a continued increase in probable or positive individuals who are in attendance during their contagious period, which increases the opportunity for transmission within the school. Additionally, due to the number of cases, determining close contacts is becoming increasingly more difficult. When this scenario occurs, the risk of transmission within a community can be difficult to determine. As a result, last evening the CCHD recommended that Garnet Valley Middle School pivot to virtual learning from March 22nd to March 26th for all students. All other Garnet Valley schools will remain in their current instructional model.

We understand the inconvenience and frustration that many families will have as a result of returning to virtual learning for next week. However, based on the information that we were able to gather through contact tracing the current cases, it was apparent that the students were interacting freely in the community; therefore, it was impossible to know the full extent of their contact with others. We implore the school community to maintain health precautions even as more and more individuals get vaccinated. Without a strong community commitment, these types of interruptions in students’ in-person learning could continue.

Reverting to virtual learning at the middle school next week will allow the district and health department to monitor all close contacts during the virus’ typical incubation period while also determining if more cases emerge. Should the mitigation effort work as expected, students along with the various cohort groups would return to hybrid learning after spring break. At that time, the district will monitor the incidence rates as well as positive and probable cases to determine if we will be ready to bring students back for in person learning on April 12th.

I understand that parents will have questions about incidences in our other schools, so I’ve included our current COVID-19 Data Sheet. This information is updated daily and reflects the number of cases in each school. It is important to note that the number of cases is only one variable. Perhaps the most important factor is how easily the cases can be contact traced. At this time, our data indicates that there is no community or linked transmission occurring in our other schools. We will continue to monitor cases throughout the District, in an effort to contain the spread of the virus in our school community.

Dr. Stenz will be in touch with the middle school families to update them with specific information regarding schedules and other details.

Sincerely,

Dr. Marc Bertrando, Superintendent

Dear School Community,

I wanted to update you on some important developments regarding Pennsylvania’s Educator Vaccination Program. The Governor, in conjunction with the Departments of Health and Education, is allocating several thousand doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccination to public, private, and parochial school educators across the state. This program does not move educators into the 1A category; instead, the initiative is a pull-out program that exclusively uses the J&J vaccine for school based employees.

In Garnet Valley, we will receive 311 first round doses which will be administered between Thursday, March 11, 2021 to Friday, March 19, 2021. The remainder of our employees, the majority of which are at the secondary level, will receive their vaccinations at some point later this month or in early April. Fortunately, in Garnet Valley after the first round is complete, faculty and staff at the elementary level, K to 12 special education teachers, and bus drivers will have been vaccinated as long as they voluntarily participated in the program.

Since the first round of vaccinations will be administered beginning this week and into next week, it is important that parents remain flexible when scheduling parent/teacher conferences and with other class related activities, as it is difficult to know at this point how the vaccination scheduling and side effects will impact our staffing. Building principals will communicate with parents regarding any changes. It is also important to note, our employees will need to travel to the Delaware County Intermediate Unit to receive their vaccinations, and since every educator receiving a dose in the first round will be competing for various time slots, it is very difficult to predict how the district will be impacted. However, based on our numbers we feel confident that instruction during the week will be able to continue as planned.

Thank you so much for your patience and flexibility. I understand that your patience is wearing thin; however, this development truly signals that we will soon get back to relative normalcy.

Sincerely,

Dr. Marc Bertrando, Superintendent

Dear School Community,

As a follow-up to the message I sent on Monday regarding our phased return to in-person learning, we are creating a FAQ page to answer your questions. To submit a question, simply click HERE. For example, one of the most popular inquiries that we’ve received so far is related to concerns about safety when students eat lunch.

Question: Will the district space students at six feet distances while eating?

Answer: During lunches, we will maintain six feet of social distancing. At the secondary level, building leadership teams are still working through the details and their information will be forthcoming. At the elementary level, many of our students will continue to eat in the cafeteria, while others may eat in additional spaces throughout the buildings. Regardless of the space, students will face in the same direction while maintaining 6 feet and only unmask while eating and drinking. Masks will continue to be worn during transition times and during recess. To see a visual representation of the elementary cafeteria staging by building, please click HERE. When you view the pictures you will see that students will be sitting facing in the same direction as the benches on the other sides of the tables will not be available.

We will continue to communicate with families in the days and weeks ahead. I realize that there is a great deal of information to sort through, so I appreciate your conscientiousness as well as your efforts on behalf of our students. If you missed Monday’s communication or still need to complete the parent survey, you can find it by clicking HERE.

Have a great day!

Dr. Marc Bertrando, Superintendent

Dear School Community,

We are extremely excited that the district will begin bringing more students back for in-person learning on March 1st. We will begin with our special education students in Cohort D. Then, we will welcome students in grades 1 and 2 on March 8th, students in grades 3 to 5 on March 15th, and our secondary students either the week before spring break or the week we return.

To prepare our school community for this phased return to in-person learning, we created an e-booklet to structure and organize the information–to access it click HERE. The document provides detailed information regarding an Instructional Choice Survey; Changes to CCHD Guidance; Declining Transmission Rates; An Overview of the Instructional Models; A Reminder of the Health Precautions; and a Social & Emotional Health Update.

Sincerely,

Dr. Marc Bertrando, Superintendent

Dear School Community,

Bringing back more students for in-person learning continues as a major discussion topic at a local, state and national level. Second only to the health and safety of the school community, returning our students for in-person learning has been our top priority and goal throughout the pandemic.

Currently, there are several factors emerging that are prompting us to believe that we may be able to achieve our goal in the near future. Although there is NO DEFINITIVE TIMELINE, I do believe that we will start to welcome more students at some point in March. As with other issues, we work tirelessly so that we can proactively plan to pivot efficiently and effectively when opportunities arise. In this particular case, we are in the process of planning; however, we need our community to understand that bringing students back under the current circumstances doesn’t happen by flipping a switch. Instead, we continue to seek clarification from the health department as changes occur in real time, just as we work through how these changes affect our educational programming, facilities, transportation, food services, extracurricular activities, etc.

Again, we anticipate changes are coming, but as of today, we are still operating under the same health precautions that have dictated our instructional delivery approach for the last several weeks. If and when changes occur, I will communicate with the school community providing definitive plans and timelines. I know patience is already thin, but I appreciate your cooperation and flexibility!

Below is more information on the emerging factors that have prompted us to ramp up planning for more in person learning. The categories include (1) Changes to Guidance from the Pennsylvania Departments of Health and Education; (2) Reduction in Infection Rates and Emerging Data on Transmission in Schools; (3) Additional Health Precautions; and (4) Vaccinations for Educators.

Changes to Guidance from the Pennsylvania Departments of Health and Education

We recently received revisions from the Pennsylvania Departments of Health and Education related to “Recommendations for Pre-K to 12 Schools Following Identification of a Case(s) of COVID-19” and its associated attestation. The change, which is a result of the PA Department of Health being unable to complete the public health protocols of contact tracing and case investigation faster than what is indicated in the guidance, mandates that “schools within a county or municipal health department (CMHD) jurisdiction should work with their local health department when responding to cases of COVID-19 in a school setting, to determine whether they have capacity to complete necessary case investigation and contact tracing in a shorter time frame.” Since Delaware County uses the Chester County Health Department as its health authority, the local health department will now oversee school closures due to COVID-19 cases. For more information about this change, please see the PDE website–click here.

So what does this revision mean for Garnet Valley:

• Schools will continue to report all probable and positive cases to the CCHD.

• Chester County Health Department will provide recommendations for school closures with a focus on linked cases.

  • With appropriate contact notification being done by schools, if additional individuals become positive while in quarantine, a move to virtual learning (“closure”) may not be warranted (the Health Department will provide closure guidance if needed)

  • If additional individuals become positive who were NOT initially identified as a close contact but are possibly linked, the Health Department will assess if cohorts are required to move to virtual learning (“closure) and/or additional individuals need to be quarantined.

Reduction in Infection Rates and Emerging Data on Transmission in Schools

Delaware County’s infection rates continue to decline. Over the last month, incidence rates have gone from 261.32 per 100,000 to 131.10, while the percentage of positive PCR positivity has dropped from 10.22% to 7.53%. Locally, within the Garnet Valley attendance boundaries, our positive test counts have gone from 73 to 46 in the last month and although the most current week is not posted, our incidence rates per 100,000 over a three week period of time have declined from a high of 253 to 215.

Along with the declines in cases, there have been several articles depicting how well the health precautions are being followed in schools and how it has kept transmission between students and teachers at a minimum. We continue to hear that the CDC will release more information on this topic and we look forward to reading it.

Additional Health Precautions

Many of you have heard that part of President Biden’s goal of opening schools within his first 100 days in office relies on extensive coronavirus testing. I’m proud and humbled that our district, along with other regional districts, will be among the first to implement weekly assurance testing for asymptomatic employees and symptomatic students and adults. Known as assurance testing, this process tests an entire population for the virus several times over a specific period and utilizes both the BinaxNOW and Cue COVID 19 testing technologies. I believe strongly that this testing will give us yet another health precaution to protect our school community against spread of the virus.

Last week, we began by piloting the process at Concord Elementary School. We tested over 130 employees with no positive results. We plan to begin testing the remainder of our employees this week and will slowly increase assurance testing for students as well. As we expand the testing to more groups of students, as well as for individuals exhibiting symptoms while in our buildings, we will ask parents to sign a consent waiver. We will share more information about student testing in the coming days and weeks ahead.

Vaccinations

It is unlikely that vaccinations will be available for educators soon. Garnet Valley remains a potential point of delivery for the vaccine, but the supply remains limited. Despite everyone’s advocacy, Delaware County continues to vaccinate groups in Phase 1A, which include individuals 65 and older and individuals between the ages of 16-64 with certain medical conditions. Based on the current progress, I do not believe vaccinations will truly assist with reopening schools until the next academic year. I hope I’m wrong and supply will increase significantly, but we are not depending on it for our planning.

Again, as more information becomes available, I will be sure to communicate and explain its implications. Have a great rest of your day!

Sincerely,

Dr. Marc Bertrando, Superintendent

Dear School Community,

I am pleased to announce that the Superintendents of Delaware County, along with the Chester County Health Department and Delaware County’s Covid Task Force, have developed a vaccination plan for educational faculty and staff throughout the county. The plan calls for four school-based vaccinations sites, located in Garnet Valley, Radnor Township, Ridley, and Upper Darby, to be opened concurrently over the course of 3 to 4 weekends beginning as early as February 13. After staff have received the first dose of the vaccine, the plan will be repeated for the second dose.

All vaccination sites will be operated using an appointment based model and will require staff to verify their employment with a Delaware County School District at the time of vaccination. Staff will be able to access any of the four vaccination sites that have an available appointment time. The vaccination sites will be operated by County staff, under the medical direction of the Chester County Health Department. School staff will be used as needed to support the operations of the sites.

Unfortunately, we have not been allotted the necessary dosages to launch our plan. In order to begin vaccinations on February 13, and subsequently begin the process of providing in person learning for more of our students, the County will need approximately 25,000-30,000 doses of vaccine by February 3. Again, access to the vaccine is vital to returning our students to in-person learning!

To say that my colleagues and I are disappointed is an understatement. When one considers that Delaware County is among the most densely populated counties in the Commonwealth and continues to experience high rates of the virus, we find it confusing and frustrating that the doses that are currently being allocated are at the same levels of other counties. If this current rate of distribution continues, it will be several months before our educators are vaccinated.

Although receiving the vaccine is voluntary for our staff, we know that this mitigation effort is a game-changer when it comes to opening up our schools to a greater degree for our students. For this reason, we continue to advocate for the proper amount of vaccines so that we can implement our plan. In fact, at last night’s School Board Work Session the Board adopted a resolution asking the General Assembly to provide the vaccines that we need. Additionally, Pennsylvania Representative Craig Williams also advocated on behalf of educators and students in our region, and the coordinated deployment of testing sites based on geographic regions reflects his advocacy. Even with these supports, we need your help. We are asking our families to contact Joanne Roth of the Department of Health, Bureau of Emergency Preparedness & Response at joroth@pa.gov, and Cindy Findley MSW Pennsylvania Department of Health | Bureau of Communicable Diseases Director | Division of Immunizations at cfindley@pa.gov to ask that Delaware County receive the requisite doses to implement our plan.

Thank you for your continued support!!

Dr. Marc Bertrando, Superintendent

Garnet Valley School District

Dear School Community,

The district will revert to virtual learning at all schools and for all students beginning Wednesday, December 16th until Wednesday, December 23rd. Thursday, December 17th will be a snow day and students will be off from school. The district will reopen on Monday, January 4th in hybrid learning, as the 14 day rolling period for positive case counts, mandated by the Departments of Health and Education, will reset at zero.

The best analogy that I can use to describe the last few days in the District is that I feel like an air traffic controller who has multiple planes trying to land on the same runway at the same time. There are so many factors that are impacting the last few days leading up to Winter Break. From a health perspective, we have been forced to close three schools. Just this morning we learned that BSES has its second case and must revert to virtual learning. Now, only Concord Elementary School and Garnet Valley Middle School are below the mandated case count thresholds. Simultaneously, the early weather forecasting is predicting a significant winter storm beginning in earnest Wednesday afternoon and ending early Thursday morning. Analyzing these factors, I also noted that there are only six days before break and two of the days are already scheduled as virtual.

Returning to virtual learning leading up to Winter Break gives students, parents, teachers, and support staff an opportunity for consistency in their school, work, and family schedules as it eliminates a constant cycle of opening and closing schools as the district continues to follow the mandated guidelines of the Pennsylvania Departments of Health and Education. It also allows the district to prioritize consistency after Winter Break, as our case counts will reset giving us the greatest chance for an extended period of hybrid learning. Although we cannot guarantee how long we will be able to remain open, we will have a fresh 14 day rolling period to start with and increase our opportunity to move in the right direction as hopefully the new year will bring much needed “resolution” to 2020’s turbulence.

As for the snow days, we are blessed in Garnet Valley to have the hardware, software, and expertise to teach our students virtually. However, as parents and/or educators we also recognize that the first snow is a special occasion, especially when it falls during the holiday season. As a result, we are using one of the three snow days that are built into our calendar to provide our children a reprieve from the disruptions and restrictions that COVID has brought to their lives so that they can get away from the screens and enjoy some fun outside. I believe fun has been sorely missed by our kids, and we need to find a way to provide it–albeit with all of the appropriate health precautions. Additionally, with the amount of forecasted snow, we wanted to guard against power outages, network issues, etc.

As with every decision that we make during the pandemic, I’m sure that there will be those who adamantly oppose my decision, as there will be an equal number who support it. Nevertheless, understand that we remain committed to getting our students back in school for in person learning as quickly and safely as possible. We also remain committed to their social and emotional health, so although a snow day during virtual learning may sound counterintuitive, how much more can we possibly impose on our kids? One day over the nine months of this pandemic, we believe, is a worthwhile accommodation. Finally, we need to acknowledge that our school community also needs consistency, and we believe that our plan meets these factors as well as possible given the known and unknown challenges that currently exist.

Thank you for your support, flexibility, and cooperation. I wish everyone a wonderful Winter Break!

Dr. Marc Bertrando, Superintendent

December 13, 2020 1:01 pm

Dear School Community,

It’s been a crazy Sunday for us as we just learned that we have to suspend hybrid learning at another school. Garnet Valley Elementary School reached its 4th positive/probable COVID case. Based on the current Pennsylvania Department of Education guidelines and in consultation with the Chester County Department of Health, we are now mandated to implement virtual learning for all students on Monday, December 14th through Wednesday, December 16th. Students will continue to follow the normal schedule over these virtual days, with students in Cohort B returning to hybrid learning on Thursday, December 17th.

Although our custodial team will do a deep clean and disinfection of classrooms with our electrostatic foggers and disinfectants on Monday, the building is closed to all students and employees until Thursday, December 17th. The contact tracing for all of the current cases is complete; nevertheless, we will continue to work in conjunction with the Chester County Health Department to investigate any additional information that comes to our attention.

Thank you for your patience and support during this frustrating, confusing, and scary time. So that we can get our students back in school as soon as safely possible, please continue to practice the various health precautions, most notably masking and social distancing,

Sincerely,

Dr. Marc Bertrando, Superintendent

December 13, 2020 11:56 am

Dear School Community,

Unfortunately, this morning we reached our 6th positive/probable COVID case at Garnet Valley High School. Based on the current Pennsylvania Department of Education guidelines and in consultation with the Chester County Department of Health, we are now mandated to implement virtual learning for all students on Monday, December 14th through Wednesday, December 16th. Students will continue to follow the normal schedule over these virtual days, with students in Cohort L to Z returning to hybrid learning on Thursday, December 17th and following a “F” Day schedule.

Although our custodial team will do a deep clean and disinfection of classrooms with our electrostatic foggers and disinfectants on Monday, the building is closed to all students and employees until Thursday, December 17th. The contact tracing for all of the current cases is complete; nevertheless, we will continue to work in conjunction with the Chester County Health Department to investigate any additional information that comes to our attention.

Thank you for your patience and support during this frustrating, confusing, and scary time. So that we can get our students back in school as soon as safely possible, please continue to practice the various health precautions, most notably masking and social distancing,

Sincerely,

Dr. Marc Bertrando, Superintendent

DECEMBER 10-14, 2020 - COVID-19 TESTING AT DELAWARE COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE

The Pennsylvania Department of Health is holding a drive-thru Covid-19 testing site in Delaware County December 10^th – 14^th.

A drive-through testing site will be held Thursday, Dec. 10 through Monday, Dec. 14 from 9:00a.m- 6:00p.m. at the Delaware County Community College (901 South Media Line Rd., Media, PA.).

Up to 450 patients can be tested per day. Mid-nasal passage swab PCR tests will be performed. Testing is on a first-come, first-serve basis and is free to all patients. Patients must be ages three and older and are not required to show symptoms of COVID-19 in order to be tested. No appointment is necessary. Patients are encouraged to bring a photo-ID or insurance card. Registration will be completed on-site.

The turnaround time for testing results is two to seven days after testing. Individuals who test positive will receive a phone call from AMI while individuals who test negative will receive a secured-PDF emailed to them from AMI. Those who have questions can call the Pennsylvania Health Hotline number 1-877-724-3258.

Dear School Community,

I realize that the following message, regarding updates from the district and the Departments of Health and Education, contains a great deal of detail, perhaps more than some community members need; however, we continue to strive for full transparency, just as we remain committed to keeping our school community safe while maximizing opportunities for our students at a time when they need it the most. As I’ve repeatedly stated, none of this is possible without the dedication and commitment of our teachers, support staff and administrators. Each group is working well beyond expectations, and we are fortunate to have such an amazing collective of educators. I also want to reinforce my strong belief that the safest place for our students physically, socially, and emotionally is our schools, and I continue to balance this belief with my unyielding commitment and priority to keep everyone in our school community safe.

I wanted to send today’s update because there was some confusion regarding new mitigation orders issued by the Governor’s office. As of writing this email, no mandates regarding closing schools were issued. In fact, the Department of Health specifically states that, “the Orders do not apply to educational instruction.” To access the DOH frequently asked questions regarding the Governor’s order click here. Nevertheless, there have been a multitude of updates and clarifications that I wanted to share with you. Because of the volume of information, today’s message includes sections on (1) Updates to the Instructional Calendar; (2) Pennsylvania Department of Education Clarifications; (3) Changes to the GVSD Data Chart of Positive/Probable Cases; (4) The Governor's Order and Extracurricular Activities; and (5) School Board News.

Updates to the Instructional Calendar

District Schedules for December 21-23

As we approach the Winter Break, which begins at the end of the school day on Wednesday, December 23rd, we must take into consideration a multitude of issues. One of the issues is maintaining parity with students’ opportunities with face-to-face instruction while also accepting the realities of the instructional environment in the days before such a major holiday.

Even in our traditional face-to-face environment, the week before Winter Break in elementary school tends to involve lots of excitement, activities, and celebration. We always do our best to include as much academic content as possible in our school days, but holiday week is typically a time when we relax our expectations for academic progress and focus more on the social emotional needs of students. Knowing the upheaval this year has brought to our students and the likely changes to “normal” holiday celebrations, we’d like to continue our pre-holiday focus on the social-emotional needs of our students. Our plan for that week is as follows:

• Monday, December 21: A-K students in person (focus on celebration and connection) L-Z students at home (asynchronous assignments)

• Tuesday, December 22: L-Z students in person (focus on celebration and connection) A-K students at home (asynchronous assignments)

• Wednesday, December 23: all students (including fully virtual students) follow a virtual Friday schedule (learning from home) with a focus on whole-group celebration and connection

• Kindergarten and our Cohort A and B, 5 day a week special education students will attend Monday through Wednesday and utilize their normal schedules.

At the high school level, the day prior to the Thanksgiving Break very few students attended in person. Anticipating that this phenomenon will occur again at both the middle and high schools, we wanted to maximize our teachers’ time as well as district resources by making the day virtual for all students except our Cohort A and B, 5 day a week special education students. Aside from the issues of parity and the anticipation of Winter Break, we must also consider providing “space” between the last student day and when students return on January 4th. This break gives our building cleaning teams, at all levels, uninterrupted time to deeply sanitize classroom and common areas, while also giving any positive student and teacher cases several days to cycle through the virus and thus reset our case counts to begin the new year on Monday, January 4th.

Update to the January Calendar for the Elementary Level

All of our teachers continue to “fly the plane as they build it.” However, at the elementary level both students and teachers relied less than the secondary level on technology for day-to-day instruction prior to COVID. Elementary lessons in a traditional model focused on direct, small group instruction as students are acquiring many of the skills needed for proficient use of technology. Now, as our elementary educators are thrust into virtual and hybrid environments, they must navigate a new learning management system as well as new technology tools all while reimagining how to teach and assess numeracy and literacy skills. We, consequently, thought that it was important to provide them with a little extra time to plan and prepare for the second half of the year. As a result, we will use Friday, January 15, 2021 as an Act 80 day for our K-5 staff. Elementary students will not be in school that day, and our teachers will be collaboratively working to refine their hybrid instructional practices.

Pennsylvania Department of Education Clarifications

The Pennsylvania Department of Education recently gave further clarification regarding the rolling 14-day period of time that requires schools to monitor positive and probable cases as they make decisions about potential closings, due to COVID. The guidance states, “the rolling 14-day period begins with the date of the first positive case—i.e., the date of the individual’s positive test result or, in the absence of a test result, the date the individual was first symptomatic.” It goes on to give an example, “if a student is diagnosed with COVID-19 on December 1, and three more students in the building are diagnosed December 13, there are four total cases in the school’s rolling 14-day period until December 14 (14 days from the date that the first student was diagnosed). The other three students then would remain in the rolling 14-day period until December 26 (14 days from December 13).”

As a result of this clarification, parents and employees have asked about the fact that Garnet Valley is virtual every Friday and whether or not this nuance allows the district to reset the 14 day rolling period each week. It does not. Even though we are virtual every Friday, we do have kindergarten and special education students in our buildings five days a week. Therefore, we are not officially “closed” for three days which allows no interruption in the 14 day rolling period mandated by the Department of Education.

As we track the 14 day rolling period, it is designed to monitor individual schools not the district as a whole. As a result, based on the different sizes of our schools, there are different thresholds that trigger reverting to all virtual learning. For example:

Middle and High School–As large schools per PDE guidance, should GVHS or GVMS positive or probable case counts go above 6 students and/or staff, we would need to revert to all virtual learning on the day a school reaches that threshold for 3 to 5 days. Similarly, if we go above 11 positive students and/or staff, we would need to revert to virtual learning in a building for 14 days per the guidance. As of sending this email GVHS has 5 positive/probable cases and GVMS has 2 in their 14 day rolling periods. Consequently, GVHS is one probable/positive case from at least a three day closing.

Concord and Garnet Valley Elementary Schools–As medium schools per PDE guidance, should CES or GVES positive or probable case counts go above 4 students and/or staff during a 14 day period, we would need to revert to all virtual learning on the day a school reaches that threshold for 3 to 5 days. If cases go above 7 positive cases we would have to revert to virtual learning in a building for 14 days. As of sending this email CES has 3 positive/probable cases and GVES has 2 in their 14 day rolling periods. Consequently, CES is one probable/positive case from at least a three day closing.

Bethel Springs Elementary–As a small school per PDE guidance, should BSES positive or probable case counts go above 2 students and/or staff during a 14 day period, we would revert to all virtual learning for 3 to 5 days and all virtual learning for 14 days if positives case counts reach 5 or more. As of sending this email BSES has 0 positive/probable cases in its 14 day rolling period.

Table 1: School Closure Guidelines, which appears below, provides a visual representation of the guidelines for each of our schools. It is also important to note that cases and close contacts excused from school must complete their isolation or quarantine period regardless of how long the school building may be closed.

Table 1: School Closure Guidelines

School # of cases for a 3-5 day closure # of cases for a 14 day closure

Concord Elementary 4-6 7+

Garnet Valley Elementary 4-6 7+

Bethel Springs 2-4 5+

GVMS 6-10 11+

GVHS 6-10 11+

Some school community members have asked how the Department of Education determines building sizes and whether or not the fact that our district is using a hybrid delivery model is considered. PDE states that, “building size is based on the number of students who would be attending school in the building if not for the pandemic. Building size should not be based on the number of the students in the building when the case occurs or at the time of temporary closure. For example, if there are 750 students enrolled in the middle school this year, the building size is medium.” In Garnet Valley, GVHS and GVMS are considered Large (>900 students); GVES and CES are considered Medium (500-900 students); and BSES is considered Small (<500 Students). If you are interested in the frequently asked questions on PDE’s recently updated Recommendations for Pre-K to 12 Schools Following Identification of a Case(s) of COVID-19–Click Here

Changes to the GVSD Data Chart of Positive/Probable Cases

Another question that we have received is if the 14 day rolling period affects the way the district will need to track cases. The short answer is yes. We now must include both confirmed and probable cases as well as the days in which individuals test positive or became probable. Therefore, the case count for a school building would include any individual (students or staff) with a confirmed or probable case of COVID-19 who was physically present in the school setting while infectious, including but not limited to, instruction, work, sports, or extracurricular activities. This guidance does not include positive or probable individuals who have elected full time virtual learning and who do not participate in extracurricular activities. It’s also important to note, at times probable cases will test negative; therefore, the school community may see counts decrease from time to time based on the testing information that we receive. To access the updated dashboard that includes the 14 day rolling period, CLICK HERE.

The Governor's Order and Extracurricular Activities

Based on the new mitigation efforts that Governor Wolf announced yesterday, all sports at K-12 public schools, nonpublic schools, private schools and club, travel, recreational, intramural, and intramural sports are paused until January 4th. Seth Brunner, GVSD Athletic Director, will communicate directly with our student athletes and their families with more details and updates.

School Board News

Earlier this week, the School Board held its annual reorganization meeting. During the meeting Mr. Robert Hayes was unanimously elected Vice President. Mr. Hayes is a 1988 graduate of Garnet Valley School District, is a parent of two current Garnet Valley students and one graduate, and has been an active member of this community for his entire life. In fact, Mr. Hayes represents a legacy of volunteerism to our school community as his father also served on the School Board as its vice president and president from 1968 to 1992.

I would be remiss if I didn’t also congratulate Tracy Karwoski on her service to the district as she was vice president for over 8 years. Truly an advocate for public education, Tracy will remain on the board and continue to lead the district’s Education Committee.

Thank you so much for your conscientious attention to this information. Clearly, these are complex times in which we currently live; however, we will continue to do our best to keep you updated as much as possible.

Have a great weekend!

Dr. Marc Bertrando, Superintendent

Delaware County is hosting Covid-19 testing next week at the US Army Reserve located at 500 W. 24^th Street, Upland PA 19013. Testing is open to anyone who lives or works in Delaware County, 12 years and older, that meet the following criteria:

* Have Covid-19 symptoms, or were exposed to Covid-19 or are critical/essential workers.

Testing is available for both insured and uninsured residents, there are no out of pocket costs or co-pays.

Residents with insurance are asked to bring their insurance card to the testing sites.

Registration is required.

Visit www.chesco.org/4562/Delco-Testing to register online.

If anyone has any questions, please call 610-891-6129.

Testing will be held from 11 AM – 3 PM on the following dates:

• Monday 11/30/2020

• Tuesday 12/01/2020

• Wednesday 12/02/2020

• Friday 12/04/2020

Dear School Community,

On Monday, we received a great deal of information from the Offices of Governor Wolf, the Pennsylvania Department of Health, and Pennsylvania Department of Education. Since receiving the information, my team, along with our school solicitor, has been meeting to interpret and understand the new series of directives. I have also met with the Chester County Department of Health, county superintendents, and doctors from Penn and CHOP to receive further directions and input.

The most significant aspect of Monday’s guidance was an order, issued by the Governor, that directs public school entities in counties with substantial community transmission to attest to health and safety protocols. Since Garnet Valley is a district with substantial community transmission and is also a district that wishes to continue its hybrid learning delivery method, we must attest that we will follow the updated order of the Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, requiring universal face coverings (for the complete order, click here) and also complying with the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s recommendations for Pre-K to 12 schools by following identification of a case(s) of COVID-19 (to read the recommendations in their entirety click here.)

Based on these recommendations, support from the Chester County Health Department, input from doctors, and the full support of the School Board, all of our schools will remain in their hybrid learning delivery model, and we will continue to monitor their data. To further clarify for our school community, the new recommendations are based on our in person enrollment and the number of cases within a rolling 14 day period. I want to point out that there is still a level of confusion and subjectivity regarding these new guidelines, and we will continue to seek clarity from the state agencies. For example, the guidelines do not account for the fact that we have many students who have elected the virtual learning model which depopulated our student enrollments, even more than our already reduced in-person attendance as a result of hybrid learning. To illustrate this point, at GVHS we have averaged less than 150 grade 9 through 12 students in our buildings for weeks, and this week we averaged less than 100. With such an empty building, implementing health precautions and contact tracing can be accomplished with extreme fidelity. To a lesser degree, the same can be said for our middle school and elementary schools. We are also fortunate that, due to parent/teacher conferences, no students have been in our elementary and middle school buildings this week.

Although the spread of the virus and contact tracing is a major factor as we make decisions about delivery models, staffing is also an important consideration. We are so fortunate in Garnet Valley that our teachers and support staff have selflessly committed themselves to their students’ education as well as their social and emotional well-being. It’s hard to detail the amount of effort that has gone into “relearning” their jobs, but they continue to create amazing lessons and activities for our students. Our teachers and staff are the main reason that our schools can remain open, and in this season of thanks, we should be thankful for all that they do.

I’ve repeated myself more times that I can count, but I want to remind everyone that everything is extremely fluid right now. As new guidance is issued, it is subject to interpretations and revisions. To date, no district has received a definitive mandate to close schools; even so, the CCHD and the doctors who advise us continue to praise the efforts of our administrators, teachers, and support staff in implementing the precautions and contact tracing. Nevertheless, the week after Thanksgiving will determine a great deal as we move into the winter. As I asked in my last email, the only way our schools can remain open is if we all work together to follow the health precautions. However, if you choose not to follow the precautions regarding large gatherings or travel outside of the state, you must keep your children home for 14 days. If families do not comply, the consequence will likely result in Garnet Valley having to resort to virtual learning as positivity rates within our schools will, undoubtedly, increase. Let’s continue to work together on behalf of keeping our schools open!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Dr. Marc Bertrando, Superintendent

Dear School Community,

I wanted to update you on various topics as we prepare for the holiday season. As I’ve done in the past, I’ve structured my message by topic so that parents can either read it in its entirety or go to their areas of interest. Today’s message includes information on: (a) the Thanksgiving School Schedule; (b) Masking and Travel Orders from the Pennsylvania Department of Health; and (c) Maintaining the Hybrid Instructional Learning Model.

Thanksgiving School Schedule

The district will conduct parent conferences next week for students in grades K to 8. Our high school students will be in session on Monday and Tuesday with Wednesday scheduled as a half day ending at 11:24AM. Schools will be closed on Thursday and Friday. All buildings will reopen on Monday, November 30th, and we will maintain our hybrid learning model.

Masking and Travel Orders from the Pennsylvania Department of Health

I adamantly support our current delivery model. Anecdotally and based on the experience of other districts, it is evident that schools are not spreading the virus at a rate that is outside of our ability to contain. Additionally, the academic, social and emotional well being of our students, after 8 months of the chaos that this pandemic has caused, continues to be at risk. We must do our best to meet their needs with the ultimate goal of getting back to in person face-to-face learning.

This objective is not without hardship. Our teachers continue to work at a fast, tireless pace providing learning and care for our students, our support staff has taken on ever expanding roles, and our administration has now added contact tracing and other public health responsibilities to their ever growing list of priorities. Similarly, our parents are now caregivers and tutors. However, with the vaccine on the horizon, we cannot let our guard down. We have to continue to be resilient and patient, and we have to follow the health precautions. The one thing that we know is that the virus is coming into our schools from home, sleepovers, travel sports, restaurants and other places. We, therefore, urge everyone to uphold the health precautions in their daily lives, especially during the holiday season.

To this end, I’m sure that all of you are aware of the four new mitigation efforts which Secretary of Health, Dr. Rachel Levine, announced on Tuesday. The efforts include: Protecting Our Health Care Systems, Traveler Testing, a Strengthened Masking Order, and recommendations for Colleges and Universities. Each order is hyperlinked in the event you would like to read them in their entirety. Specifically, I wanted to bring your attention to the masking and travel orders.

We have done a great job with masking, so I don’t believe that the updated guidelines will impact us a great deal. However, please be mindful that the updated order now mandates the following:

• Masks must be worn indoors and outdoors if you are away from your home. This includes all school buildings.

• Masks must be worn outdoors if you cannot remain at least six feet away from someone not in your household the entire time you are outdoors.

• Masks are required indoors, even if you are more than six feet apart from members not in your household.

The travel order, especially at this time of year, is more complex. It states that, “Pennsylvanians visiting other states must have a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours prior to their return, or else they need to quarantine for 14 days.” Clearly, these guidelines present a challenge during the holidays when all of us desperately want to visit with friends and family. Nonetheless, the Department of Health is hoping that by staying home and limiting the number of folks with whom we interact, we will help to curb the spread of COVID-19.

We encourage everyone’s cautiousness and ask that you avoid social gatherings in addition to making an effort to stay in state. If you do host or attend a holiday gathering, please wear a mask when indoors and keep a distance from people not in your household. Likewise, if you do travel, follow the guidelines to return; even so, in the absence of a test, we urge you to follow the required 14 day quarantine.

We have come so far and worked too hard to let our guard down now. 2020 will remain a year of historic significance, and as a result, let’s accept the extraordinary circumstances that it has presented and change our planning accordingly. Please stay home and limit your interactions over the break. Those who don’t follow the guidelines jeopardize our ability to keep schools open.

Maintaining the Hybrid Instructional Learning Model

Although some districts have reverted to virtual learning, Garnet Valley continues to experience stable data in regard to COVID cases in our schools. For example, based on the district dashboard (to access it, click here), which has been publicly displayed on the website since October 12th, we’ve had 3 elementary students test positive, 5 middle school students, and 10 high school students. Comparably low, are our employee positivity rates. We have had 5 elementary staff who tested positive, none at the middle school, and 6 at the high school. Although we don’t discount the recent aggressive spread of the virus in our region, our schools have seen only 9 positive cases with students and employees over the last two weeks. It is for this reason that I strongly believe that our health precautions coupled with our mitigation efforts are working.

Nevertheless, based on the county and regional data, the obvious question that arises is “If rates are escalating, why isn’t the district reverting back to all virtual learning?” Back on November 10th, the Chester County Department of Health issued a position statement (the entire statement can be found by clicking here) that supported districts staying in their hybrid delivery models. As of a meeting with the CCDH this morning, this recommendation has not changed, and the Department’s rationale is embedded in the fact that schools are perhaps the best examples of the implementation of health precautions, and they believe districts’ efforts are working. Also, the way that we cohort and roster our students in classrooms and buses allows for efficient and effective contact tracing that helps to mitigate exposure. Finally, as of writing this message, the vast majority of our cases have come from outside school circumstances.

The Department’s letter goes on to state that along with the existing guide rails of incidence rates and PCR Test Positivity, other factors must be considered. These factors include:

• the number of COVID-19 cases and/or outbreaks in schools

• evidence of transmission within schools

• staffing levels

• adherence to preventive measures, etc.

We’ve talked about the comparatively low number of cases in our schools. As for evidence of transmission, we have had it in two of our buildings. One occurred in a self contained special education classroom and the other was at one of our elementary schools where the transmission occurred with adults and not students. In both cases we were able to quarantine classes and mitigate any further spread.

Also encouraging is the fact that the Governors of the Northeastern states put out a joint statement that also supports our decision to stay in hybrid learning. Perhaps you saw it on social media, I took a screenshot to share with you, and it appears below:

As for staffing, simply stated we are blessed with an extremely committed and devoted administration, faculty, and support staff. Our educators have the technological capacity and the expertise to continue the education of students even when some of them have been forced to quarantine. Also, we proactively hired a number of substitutes and trained them so we can offer a great deal of flexibility. This fact is a testament to the proactivity and support of the Board and the entire school community.

As I’ve stated repeatedly throughout the pandemic, today’s message could change dramatically tomorrow. Although we continue to do a great job mitigating the spread of COVID in our schools, there may come a time when we will need to quickly revert back to virtual learning. We fully realize the complexities that families experience when changes occur, so we will do our best to give you advance notice, and in turn we will need your understanding when circumstances dictate more immediate action.

Have a healthy and safe weekend!

Dr. Marc Bertrando, Superintendent

Dear School Community,

There have been rumors regarding health authorities forcing Delaware County schools to switch from hybrid to virtual learning due to the increased incidence rates in the region. As of today, no mandates have been issued, and we plan to maintain our current hybrid delivery model, continue the implementation of our health and safety plans, monitor our cases, and quarantine or isolate individuals as recommended previously by the Chester County Department of Health. For an update on student and staff positive cases, the community can access our District COVID Dashboard by clicking here.

We will continue to monitor cases in accordance with the emerging guidance and report it to the community. However, we all know that change emerges quickly during the pandemic, and we need to be prepared in the event the district should need to switch back to virtual learning. The factors that would be considered in the decision to return to an all virtual format are listed below.

• Mandated recommendation from DOH, PDE, and CCHD to return to an all virtual environment.

• If a substantial, confirmed and established linked-transmission(s) within or among schools occurred.

• If there was a far-reaching spread of the disease throughout the community, which could no longer be effectively contact-traced by the CCHD.

• If there was a staffing shortage, which would prevent us from following our Health & Safety Plan.

*It is also important to note that if a change in delivery model is required, we would start at the high school level and work backward.

I realize that we all have families, childcare needs, health concerns, perspectives, and beliefs on the many areas of our lives that are affected by COVID, and the district will continue to take into account as many of these perspectives as possible while keeping everyone’s health and safety first. Just as important for the district are the needs of our students, who desperately desire to learn, long for stable routines, and crave opportunities to engage socially and emotionally. Please understand that there is no one perfect solution to accommodate the multitude of needs, but we continue to do what we believe is best for all.

The district community can provide our schools with the greatest support by practicing the health precautions routinely. Continue to mask, social distance, symptom screen, and practice good hygiene by washing your hands often. And, as always, please remain home if you do not feel well.

Sincerely,

Dr. Marc Bertrando, Superintendent

Dear School Community,

I hope everyone is doing as well as possible and staying healthy! As October ends, I thought it would be a good time to update you on how the District is handling hybrid learning from a health perspective. Although all of you have a new and emerging perspective on the instruction and learning challenges that our teachers, students, and parents are facing, I wanted to provide some context on the challenges we face from a health perspective.

First, I want to publicly praise our faculty, staff, and administrators. As I walked through our buildings over the past few weeks, I see our adults reminding students of our health precautions, embedding classroom procedures that reinforce proper hygiene and masking, and implementing creative instructional approaches that maintain proper social distancing. In fact, I had the pleasure of being in a 1st grade classroom and watching the students enter, keep distanced, go to the hand sanitizing station, give a quick pump, rinse their hands, and have a seat. This doesn’t happen without great reinforcement from the classroom teacher!

Nevertheless, despite our best efforts, COVID-19 is still impacting our communities and thus our schools. To date, we have had 12 positive student cases and 4 positive staff cases in the district. As a result, we’ve had to quarantine a number of students and adults for 14 days. To provide transparency for the entire school community, we are publishing a COVID Data Dashboard, which will be updated at the end of each day. You can access the dashboard by clicking here. For county-wide data as well as data that directly relates to the population within the boundaries of the school district, you can access the CCHD dashboard by clicking here.

In communicating these positive cases, I would like to answer a question I received publicly. The question is this:

"If the current incidence rates continue, will we need to go back to virtual learning?"

The Chester County Health Department and the medical experts from CHOP and Penn answered with a qualified "it depends" at our meeting this week. All of the experts believe that districts should focus on "linked transmission" as the most important factor. This means they will look for situations in which individuals, within the same building and/or district, are spreading the virus. Even when this happens, as is the case at the high school, if the group impacted is contained, we will not have to close the entirety of the school. The CCHD also believes strongly that our protocols are working well, and linked transmissions between student and teacher, and/or teacher and student, are limited. They reinforced that we should continue to do what we're doing in regard to stacking health precautions, contact tracing, and quarantining. However, like with everything else during this time, this answer is good for today and will most likely evolve and change in the future. For example, as positivity rates increase, the experts are studying the cases and looking for nuances such as connections to specific places like prisons, retirement homes, etc. Conversely, should the incidences become so widespread that the health experts cannot trace them, then they would constitute the positive cases as “community spread” and would necessitate a discussion about going back to virtual learning. The greatest takeaway from this conversation is that our behaviors outside of work and school are paramount to keeping everyone safe. Please continue to mask, social distance, symptom screen, and practice good hygiene by washing your hands often. And, as always, please remain home if you do not feel well.

As a result of the quarantining that goes along with the positive cases our staffing is becoming a major issue. We have allowed those teachers who are asymptomatic to teach from home so that classes can continue; however, this is not possible if they are exhibiting symptoms. Support staff, especially bus drivers, are also a problem because there are simply not enough candidates out there to hire. Although our human resources department along with the cooperation of faculty, staff, and employees are making it work, there could be a time when we will need to make some difficult decisions regarding our instructional delivery model.

I hope this information helps provide context for you as we navigate the days and weeks ahead. Please continue to follow all of the health precautions and most importantly, if your children have any symptoms, please keep them at home.

Have a great weekend!

Marc

Dear School Community,

I wanted to share an email with you that was sent out by Steve Brandt, who is our high school principal. Unfortunately we needed to move one of our high school programs to a virtual delivery model due to students testing positive for COVID-19. Mr. Brandt's email appears below:

Dear GVHS Community,

Unfortunately, we have received confirmation of a second student within a specific GVHS academic support program testing positive for COVID-19. Students in this program do not switch for all of their classes, so their program is much more self-contained than the vast majority of other students. After communication with the Chester County Health Department (CCHD), it was determined that the second case amongst this small group could suggest that a classroom transmission may be occurring within this specific program. Thus, the health department advised that we should move beyond the normal process of close contact tracing (i.e. identifying and contacting those who were within 6-ft of the positive individual for more than 15 minutes) and apply a more communal approach to combat any further potential spread. We, consequently, are moving the students and staff in this specific program to an all virtual learning model for the next 14 days while they quarantine.

Again, in response to this situation and the latest developing circumstances, we are contacting those within the program and decided to transition the entire program to a fully virtual learning model. We will keep the program virtual for two weeks to reduce the risk of additional exposure and/or transmission. The Chester County Health Department also advised us to quarantine individuals for 14-days from their last potential exposure, which in this situation is until Thursday, November 12, 2020. This decision will be applied to the teachers, support staff, and students associated with this program. Due to the nature and design of the program, it has been determined that only this program will need to implement this approach at this time.

As Dr. Bertrando stated last week, when we have positive cases present in our schools, staff and students will be notified if they are deemed to be close contacts (i.e. identifying and contacting those who were within 6-ft of the positive individual for more than 15 minutes). The district has prepared for this situation and has specific plans and protocols in place that will greatly enhance the Health Department’s ability to contact trace and subsequently mitigate any potential spread.

Whenever a student or staff member who tests positive was in our building during the contagious period, we work with the Chester County Health Department to support contact tracing. Contact tracing helps manage the spread of COVID-19 and prevent future surges of cases. If the Health Department finds your child is a close contact, they will give you information including:

• Your last date of exposure, which decides the timeline for quarantine

• Expectations for quarantine

• How to report new or worsening symptoms

• Information about COVID-19

If you are not contacted by the Health Department because of this exposure, you should still watch for symptoms consistent with COVID-19. These symptoms include fever, cough, shortness of breath, abnormal sense of taste and smell, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, congestion, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. If you or your child develops any of these symptoms, please stay home and contact your physician. Please remind your children to remain socially distant from others even when wearing masks, during recess, and while waiting for the bus.

Please remember to screen your children before leaving for school in the morning using the at-home health screening requirements located on our website. Children who exhibit symptoms should stay at home; doing so will help to keep our classrooms and schools open. If your child develops symptoms while at school you will be contacted to pick your child up and will receive the Symptomatic Student Information Sheet.

If your child must quarantine due to a close contact at school, the school nurse will provide you with the Close Contact Information Sheet outlining the steps to follow. Your child’s building principal will notify you of your child’s plan for instruction. Unless notified otherwise, the siblings of students who have been advised to quarantine are permitted to attend school. Those siblings were not in direct contact with the COVID-19 positive person.

In closing, we thank you for your understanding and support in this matter. We will continue to communicate with the Chester County Health Department for guidance and recommendations as we try to navigate these unprecedented circumstances. As always, please continue to monitor your student’s health and please communicate any conditions that you feel warrant our awareness.

Dear School Community,

This morning I received a call from our middle and high school administrative teams informing me of two additional, unrelated student cases. Again, these cases were not connected to the case we reported on Friday at the high school. In both situations, we spent the day investigating and compiling information. Like on Friday, we will now work in conjunction with the Chester County Department of Health to identify close contacts and notify specific students or staff who are required to quarantine. Quarantining is a mitigation strategy to help slow the spread of the virus. Both the high school and middle school administrative teams are already reaching out to parents whose children may have been in contact with the students either in school or on the bus so that they have advanced notice. The schools have also informed the student's teachers. Please understand that due to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and HIPAA we cannot release the students’ names and/or grades.

As the weeks progress and positive cases present in our schools, staff and students will be notified if they are deemed to be close contacts. As I stated on Friday, the district has prepared for this situation and has specific plans and protocols in place that will greatly enhance the Health Department’s ability to contact trace and subsequently mitigate any potential spread.

Whenever a student or staff member who tests positive was in our building during the contagious period, we work with the Chester County Health Department to support contact tracing. Contact tracing helps manage the spread of COVID-19 and prevent future surges of cases. If the Health Department finds your child is a close contact, they will give you information including:

• Your last date of exposure, which decides the timeline for quarantine

• Expectations for quarantine

• How to report new or worsening symptoms

• Information about COVID-19

If you are not contacted by the Health Department because of this exposure, you should still watch for symptoms consistent with COVID-19. These symptoms include fever, cough, shortness of breath, abnormal sense of taste and smell, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, congestion, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. If you or your child develops any of these symptoms, please stay home and contact your physician. Please remind your children to remain socially distant from others even when wearing masks, during recess, and while waiting for the bus.

Please remember to screen your children before leaving for school in the morning using the at-home health screening requirements located on our website. Children who exhibit symptoms should stay at home; doing so will help to keep our classrooms and schools open. If your child develops symptoms while at school you will be contacted to pick your child up and will receive the Symptomatic Student Information Sheet.

If your child must quarantine due to a close contact at school, the school nurse will provide you with the Close Contact Information Sheet outlining the steps to follow. Your child’s building principal will notify you of your child’s plan for instruction. Unless notified otherwise, the siblings of students who have been advised to quarantine are permitted to attend school. Those siblings were not in direct contact with the COVID-19 positive person.

Sincerely,

Dr. Marc Bertrando, Superintendent

Dear School Community,

This morning we learned that a student in our high school tested positive for COVID-19. We immediately called the Chester County Department of Health and have worked in conjunction with their representative. Although the student was last in school on Wednesday, we believe that the individual was symptomatic while in attendance. As a result, the Department of Health will now identify close contacts and notify specific students or staff who are required to quarantine. Quarantining is a mitigation strategy to help slow the spread of the virus. The high school staff is already contacting parents whose children may have been in contact with the student either in school or on the bus so that they have advanced notice. The school has also informed the student's teachers. Please understand that due to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and HIPAA we cannot release the student’s name and/or grade.

This is our first student who has tested positive while attending school, and we will work with CCHD throughout the day and weekend to ensure everyone's health and safety. As the weeks progress and positive cases present in our schools, staff and students will be notified if they are deemed to be close contacts. I want to reinforce that the district has prepared for this situation and has specific plans and protocols in place that will greatly enhance the Health Department’s ability to contact trace and subsequently mitigate any potential spread.

Whenever a student or staff member who tests positive was in our building during the contagious period, we work with the Chester County Health Department to support contact tracing. Contact tracing helps manage the spread of COVID-19 and prevent future surges of cases. If the Health Department finds your child is a close contact, they will give you information including:

• Your last date of exposure, which decides the timeline for quarantine

• Expectations for quarantine

• How to report new or worsening symptoms

• Information about COVID-19

If you are not contacted by the Health Department because of this exposure, you should still watch for symptoms consistent with COVID-19. These symptoms include fever, cough, shortness of breath, abnormal sense of taste and smell, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, congestion, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. If you or your child develops any of these symptoms, please stay home and contact your physician. Please remind your children to remain socially distant from others even when wearing masks, during recess, and while waiting for the bus.

Please remember to screen your children before leaving for school in the morning using the at-home health screening requirements located on our website. Children who exhibit symptoms should stay at home; doing so will help to keep our classrooms and schools open. If your child develops symptoms while at school you will be contacted to pick your child up and will receive the Symptomatic Student Information Sheet.

If your child must quarantine due to a close contact at school, the school nurse will provide you with the Close Contact Information Sheet outlining the steps to follow. Your child’s building principal will notify you of your child’s plan for instruction. Unless notified otherwise, the siblings of students who have been advised to quarantine are permitted to attend school. Those siblings were not in direct contact with the COVID-19 positive person.

As always, thank you for your support and cooperation!!

Sincerely,

Dr. Marc Bertrando, Superintendent

Dear School Community,

I wanted to update you regarding the following topics: (1) bringing back our students in grades 3 through 5 for hybrid learning; (2) reminders about health and safety precautions; and (3) the district spectator protocols for athletic events.

Grades 3 through 5

Our kindergarten through second grade students are completing their second week of hybrid learning. As our administrators and teachers navigate this delivery model for the first time, I am proud and appreciative of their hard work and creativity. They continue to do everything they possibly can to meet the needs of their students. I am just as appreciative of our parents’ and students' cooperation and support. I realize that many families want to get back to “normal” school; however, we believe that our phased approach is the best possible compromise between the finest educational practices and the health and safety protocols and guidance provided by local experts.

As we move into mid-October, we continue to execute our plan to bring more students in for hybrid learning. Consequently, on Tuesday, October 13, students in grades 3 through 5 will begin attending within the following cohorts:

• last names A-K attend in person Monday and Wednesday

• last names L-Z attend in person Tuesday and Thursday

• all students in grades 1 - 12 follow a virtual Friday schedule from home

Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Allen will communicate with parents regarding specific schedules and other nuances related to our third through fifth grade students’ return. If you were unable to attend one of the parent webinars we hosted this week, please feel free to click HERE to access a recording along with the presentation that was shared. Once we have all of our elementary students in school for hybrid learning, we will begin to welcome our middle and high school students on Monday, October 19th. Parents of sixth through twelfth grade students can attend a parent webinar next week to learn more about what the hybrid model will look like for their children. Registration links were sent by Mrs. Stenz and Mr. Brandt, so please reach out to them if you haven’t received those emails. We continue to learn from your feedback and appreciate your insights about teaching and learning in Garnet Valley. Please continue to utilize our “Questions and Feedback Form” which can be found by CLICKING HERE to pose questions or share your thoughts with our team.

Health and Safety

The stacking of safety precautions continues to show great effectiveness in combating the spread of the virus. Therefore, we ask our parents to follow the guidelines around masking, monitoring, distancing, and hygiene that the administration has communicated throughout the school year. Parent cooperation with symptom screening is imperative. Parents can click here to review the district’s guide detailing symptoms and processes we will follow in the event that students have symptoms. However, we implore parents to keep their children at home if they are not well. Your child is welcome to “Zoom” into class whether it is her/his “in person” day or not.

The topic of masks continues to present our building administrators with many questions. Instead of recommending specific brands or types, the district asks that students wear masks that completely cover and place a barrier around the nose and mouth. Also, we ask that the coverings have ear straps to ensure that they stay in place as students move throughout the day. Zippers and other openings on masks are prohibited.

As I’ve mentioned in previous emails, our nursing team plays a vital role in our phased reopening. We ask that parents familiarize themselves with important information from Kala Sareyka, our district’s nursing coordinator, by CLICKING HERE. As always, please reach out to your building administrator or school nurse at any time with questions, concerns, or needs.

We look forward to bringing in more students as we get closer to our main objective of having all of our students in hybrid learning. We look forward to seeing our students back in school this month and look forward to the time we can realize our ultimate goal - full time, in person learning. Although we saw an uptick in positivity in our district and in the county this past week, the data still supports educating our students in a hybrid format. For those parents who would like to review the county and school district data click here. For a reminder of the Health Department’s guidance for opening school, click here (the pertinent information can be found on pages 2 and 3.) Let’s continue to work together and follow the precautions so that we can get our students back!

Garnet Valley School District Spectator Protocols for Athletic Events

As we move closer to the official start of the fall athletic season, we have created plans to meet the most recent orders, mandates, and guidelines on gathering limitations. In order to hold these events in a safe and orderly manner, we are going to need the cooperation of parents, families, and the general public. Without this cooperation, we risk the possible cancellation of events, and/or sanctioning of teams or the school district and its personnel; and/or exclusion of spectators. We thank you in advance for your willingness to work together with us to provide safe venues for our student-athletes to participate in their seasons. Click here to read a letter from our Athletic Director, Seth Brunner.

Thank you for your continued support and cooperation!

Dr. Marc Bertrando, Superintendent

Dear School Community,

Tomorrow at 7pm, there is a public meeting of the Garnet Valley School Board of Directors. Although these meetings along with the minutes and agendas are publicly posted on the website and advertised in the Delaware County Daily Times, I wanted to inform you of the meeting personally because the Board will vote on the contracts for fall sports.

I realize that Mr. Brunner, GVSD Athletic Director, sent a communication to the parents of high school student athletes informing them that the Central League will begin phasing in fall sports on September 29th. In order for this process to begin, the Board will need to approve the supplemental contracts for the coaches and advisors tomorrow evening. In addition to the high school coaches’ contracts, the Board will also vote on middle school athletics contracts. It is important to note that middle school and freshman sports will be run as intramural programs this fall due to a lack of games and logistical issues with transportation.

In addition to athletics, some community members have asked me whether or not the Board will vote on the phased reopening of schools. They will not. In July, when the Board voted to approve the district’s health and safety plan to reopen schools for the 2020-21 academic year, the motion stated that the original plan was subject to change based on the evolving guidance and guidelines. This flexibility is incredibly important as the district may need to pivot from time to time as more details and information comes forward. Therefore, I sent a message last week providing the community with an overview of our phased reopening plans. Dr. Hutchinson and her team are scheduling webinars that will update the parents of each group of students prior to their transition to hybrid learning. In fact, she and her team conducted one this morning and have one schedule for this evening.

I’m extremely happy to report that our reopening began today with a small group of special education students. On September 29th we will bring K to 2 students back with grades 3 to 5 arriving on October 13th. If everything goes well, secondary students will begin hybrid learning on Monday, October 19th. I hope this helps to answer some of the questions that you may have about tomorrow’s meeting. If you would like to attend, you may do so by clicking here and registering for the meeting.

Sincerely,

Dr. Marc Bertrando, Superintendent

Dear Parents,

Given that the health data for our district and county has stabilized, and both the Incidence Rate (48.52) and PCR Positivity Percentage (4.3%) are currently in the range that allows for hybrid learning, we are planning to begin bringing back students. We will take a slow, phased approach that begins on Monday, September 21st with a small group of our special education students. Then, on Tuesday, September 29th, we plan to bring in Kindergarten through Grade 2 as well as 80 additional special education students.

Schedules

In terms of instructional schedules, all Kindergarteners and the 85 special education students identified above will be in school for live, in-person instruction 5 days per week and will not utilize the hybrid or virtual Friday schedule. All other students will follow the hybrid schedule that we described over the summer:

• last names A-K attend in person Monday and Wednesday

• last names L-Z attend in person Tuesday and Thursday

• all students in grades 1 - 12 follow a virtual Friday schedule from home

We will continue with the K-2 grade band of students and the 85 special education students for two weeks, which ranges from Tuesday, September 29th until Friday October 9th. Specific schedules will be communicated by your building leadership teams, and parent webinars will be scheduled next week to share additional information. If you are the parent of a K-2 student and do not wish to send your child on her/his in-person days, please click HERE.

We're beginning with these students for several reasons. Educationally, it is incredibly complex to educate these children online. Lack of literacy skills, limited ability to work independently, and shorter attention spans are just a few of the many issues that our teachers and our parents are facing. Socially and emotionally, all of our students are struggling, but for students who have limited or no experience with school, these students are missing vital interactions that develop their skills to cooperate, socialize, and acclimate to school where social distancing and other health precautions are more easily applied.

Should our data remain stable and/or trend in an appropriate direction, we will plan to bring in our students in grades 3 through 5 beginning Tuesday, October 13th according to the hybrid schedule, at which point all elementary students will have access to in person learning. Again, Kindergarten and specific special education students will be in person five days a week, while all other elementary students will follow a hybrid schedule with Fridays designated as virtual days. Finally, beginning on Monday, October 19th, the district will bring in our students in grades 6 through 12 for hybrid learning.

This phased approach will give our teachers, support staff, administration, nursing team, transportation department, food services, and facilities and operations departments time to adjust, troubleshoot, and grow in confidence that we can safely and effectively execute our hybrid model. As we have said many times, this plan is subject to change based on updated data, guidance, and feedback.

Teaching and Learning

Ongoing analysis of your feedback shows that there are some concerns regarding the delivery of instruction in a hybrid format, with some students in class and some at home. Especially at the primary grades, the complexities are multi-layered and require a great deal of technical and pedagogical skill. Therefore, our principals have been meeting with groups of teachers to adapt and alter instructional approaches and schedules to enhance student learning. Our Curriculum and Instruction Department and principals will communicate revised models in the days ahead. Similarly, principals will meet with other grade bands so that our hybrid approach reflects what we’ve learned in the first weeks of school in regard to strategies that work well and those that perhaps seemed like a good idea, but proved ineffective. Your input has also been extremely important throughout the school closure and continues to assist us in our planning.

Health and Safety

Our buildings have been ready for students since the beginning of the school year, but safety remains a crucial part of our thinking and planning. Our administrative team is working closely with our nursing department and the Chester County Department of Health to refine and enhance our protocols around such topics such as masking, social distancing, contact tracing, symptom monitoring, case tracking, hygiene, cleaning, and PPE. We meet regularly to stay up-to-date with guidance, the needs of our school community, and current data points. As we plan to bring students and additional staff back onto our campus, know that we will continue to work collaboratively with all of you to help you feel as comfortable and safe as possible.

Perhaps the most important safety aspect of bringing students back for face-to-face learning is masking. Universal face coverings are required for all students while on school property, or when using school vehicles per PA Secretary of Health’s Universal Face Covering Order. This updated order requires staff and students to wear face coverings at all times while in school, even when six feet of social distancing can be achieved. The district, however, will provide face covering breaks throughout the day while maintaining a distance of at least 6 feet for no longer than 10 minutes. In the days ahead, we suggest that parents work with their children to find masks that fit best for their children. For more information regarding face coverings, please CLICK HERE and the information related to masking can be found on page 12.

Clearly, our nursing team will play a vital role in our phased reopening. We, consequently, ask that parents familiarize themselves with the following information–CLICK HERE. As always, please reach out to your building administrator or school nurse at any time with questions, concerns, or needs. Your building administrative team will be in touch with more specific information and details as we get closer to your child’s reopening date.

Transportation

Our Supervisor of Transportation, Lorraine Bytheway is currently finalizing our routes and driver assignments. Building principals will communicate with parents regarding bus stop locations as well as pick up and drop off times in the coming days. Just a reminder that students will be required to wear masks for the entirety of their bus trips. Drivers will also wear masks, and buses will be disinfected after the end of each run.

*****

We are excited, anxious, and grateful to be at a point where we can begin to see our students again in person. As we’ve said throughout the closure, we are so appreciative of the support and collaboration of our parents. I love to hear from our school community; however, with the volume of emails, it is getting impossible for me to respond in a timely manner. As a result, if you have a comment or question, please use our Questions and Feedback Form which can be found by CLICKING HERE. Your feedback continues to assist us in all aspects of this new age of education!! Our goal remains getting our students back for in person learning, and through the collective efforts of our entire school community, we believe that we can achieve it.

Sincerely,

Dr. Marc Bertrando, Superintendent

The District has received questions regarding the busing of private, parochial, and alternative placement students. Like a normal school year, the district will continue to bus these students even though GVSD students will begin the year virtually. Our transportation department is in constant communication with the private and parochial schools, and those families will receive their routing and scheduling information from their schools and the district will also post it on the transportation website once routes are completed.

Dear School Community,

Last night the Garnet Valley School District Board of Directors unanimously voted to begin the 2020-21 school year virtually. This vote affirms the recommendation made by the Chester County Health Department which asserted that “public and private K to 12 schools in Chester County and Delaware County should begin their academic year virtually and assess their ability to transition to a more in-person instructional model after October 9, 2020.” The department believes that a virtual start will mitigate any impact anticipated by increased cases due to Labor Day and the end of summer travel.

Along with their recommendation, the Chester County Health Department in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Department of Health, announced that they were releasing recommendations for reopening schools based on health metrics. Both rely on two standard public health metrics: incidence rate and the percent positivity of diagnostic testing. Additionally, Chester County Health Department will also provide more municipal based data by this Friday, which will help us better understand our local health data. To access the health department’s Pre-K – 12 Grade Health and Safety Plan Considerations, please click here.

Based on current trends in our area today, we believe that bringing in cohorts of students for in person learning is a real possibility by October as long as families are vigilant in following all of the safety guidelines–especially if they have travel or celebration plans over the holiday. As a community we must wear masks, wash our hands often, practice proper social distancing, and perform daily symptom screening.

Until there is a vaccination, the issue of spread will present itself no matter what we do. However, the experts believe that by delaying in-person learning, we will mitigate the numbers and allow for a smooth and safe transition to meeting our goal of bringing all students back into school. In the interim, through the feedback and input of our teachers, students, and parents, our virtual learning is greatly enhanced. This year’s online learning will be focused on new learning, live engagement, structured schedules, and meaningful interactions. Click HERE to access a recorded webinar and presentation (named “Reopening of Schools”) that explains our online learning format in more detail. Like every school year, building principals will be in touch with their families regarding specifics about schedules and other important announcements regarding the start of the school year.

I want our community to know that we understand the seriousness and the implications this decision has on learning, parenting, jobs, mental health, physical health, and the multitude of other aspects that virtual learning can present. With this understanding in mind, I want to reinforce that our goal is full time, in-person learning. As a result, we strongly believe that our plan for a phased opening will get us there safely and as quickly as possible.

Sincerely,

Dr. Marc Bertrando, Superintendent

Dear School Community,

Happy Saturday! Last evening, the Chester County Health Department, which is Delaware County's health authority, released new guidance for districts related to instructional models. It leverages the state’s guidance and provides additional direction for Chester County and Delaware County schools related to instructional models.

A summary of its additional guidance for instructional models includes the following:

• A recommendation for all schools to begin the school year virtually through October 9, 2020; recommendations are included for schools providing special education, early childhood development, and career and technical education programs

• More specific thresholds for instructional models as it relates to community transmission

• Guidelines for transitioning between instructional models

Additionally, updates have been made to the existing guidance. The detailed information can be found on their website in the School and Childcare Resources section. Major updates are highlighted in yellow.

This new information and its timing gives the community even more context on the dynamic nature of decision making for school districts. The guidance from our local health authority also reinforces the administrative recommendation to start the year virtually and also reduces the ambiguity of decision making for the Board related to reopening school. Nevertheless, the Board will hold its virtual special meeting on Monday, August 17th at 7p.m. If any community members are interested in attending, please click here to join through Zoom. The password is 232902.

Have a great Saturday!

Marc

Dear Parents,

As I previously communicated, we now have a special board meeting on Monday August 17th at 7PM. Unfortunately, the Board meeting now conflicts with our most heavily enrolled Opening of Schools Webinar. We, therefore, wanted to give parents an opportunity to re-enroll in case they wanted to switch to a different date and time (we are keeping the August 17th at 7PM time slot since the day and time worked for so many of you). All of the webinars now allow 500 participants, so there is plenty of space. However, EVERYONE WILL NEED TO RE-REGISTER for the webinar that works best. You can register by clicking on the hyperlinks that correspond to the date and time that works best for you.

Topic: Opening of Schools in Garnet Valley Parent Webinar

Wednesday, August 12, 2020 08:00 AM

Register in advance for this webinar: click HERE

Wednesday August 12, 2020 07:00 PM

Register in advance for this webinar: click HERE

Thursday, August 13, 2020 10:00 AM

Register in advance for this webinar: click HERE

Thursday, August 13, 2020 06:00 PM

Register in advance for this webinar: click HERE

Friday, August 14, 2020 09:00 AM

Register in advance for this webinar: click HERE

Friday, August 14, 2020 02:00 PM

Register in advance for this webinar: click HERE

Monday, August 17, 2020 08:00 AM

Register in advance for this webinar: click HERE

Monday, August 17, 2020 07:00 PM

Register in advance for this webinar: click HERE

Tuesday, August 18, 2020 06:00

Register in advance for this webinar: click HERE

Sincerely,

Dr. Marc Bertrando, Superintendent

Garnet Valley School District

Dear School Community

The Garnet Valley School District Board of Directors has decided to delay tonight’s vote on reopening schools until next Monday evening. The work session will still take place at its scheduled time, but again, the Board will not vote on any changes to the reopening plan.

The reason for the delay is that superintendents across Pennsylvania received an email today at 11:22AM from the Pennsylvania departments of Health (DOH) and Education (PDE) that provided school administrators and governing bodies with recommendations as to which instructional models they should consider implementing based on the changing levels of community transmission of COVID-19 in their counties. The DOH and PDE recommendations can be found by CLICKING HERE.

Just prior to receiving the email, I was in a Superintendents’ meeting with the Chester County Health Department and Dr. Brennan, where we learned that our local health experts will also soon provide us with metrics to determine when a district should be in virtual, hybrid, and or in person learning.

The timing of this vital information is illustrative of the dynamic and ever changing nature of not only the decision-making in this environment, but also the way data rapidly evolves. I realize that this message represents yet another delay in definitive guidance on opening schools that our community will need to endure. I feel your frustration, and simultaneously, I hope you can appreciate how difficult it is for the Board to make decisions when such important information is shared less than a month before school begins. The decision by the Board, to delay the vote, is a clear demonstration of their dedication to the school community’s well being.

Again, we will delay the vote tonight, and I will be in touch soon with the Zoom link for next week’s meeting.

Sincerely,

Dr. Marc Bertrando, Superintendent

Dear School Community,

The Board will hold a work session on Monday, August 10th at 7pm, and the public is invited to attend virtually. On the night of the meeting, you can join from a PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone or Android device by clicking on the following URL: https://zoom.us/j/99258627685?pwd=a0VMdjFqcjBSSlNpaittR2x4TXVvUT09 . The passcode is 776975.

As always, the Board wants to hear and read your comments. Based on the participation during our last meeting, we wanted to find ways to maximize efficiency. Therefore, the community can click here to make comments, which will scroll on the Board’s website. To go to the website click here. If you would like to make comments on specific voting items, the Board agenda can be found by clicking here. Please remember that Board meetings are not question and answer sessions. If you have specific questions, you can utilize the survey tool that the district sent out earlier in the week by clicking here. Although the Board will still accept public comment during the live meeting, I suggest using the form provided in this email so that individuals will receive your feedback well before they vote.

Sincerely,

Dr. Marc Bertrando, Superintendent

Garnet Valley School District

Dear School Community,

I would first like to thank each and every one of you for your patience, understanding, and participation in the decision-making process for the upcoming school year. In today’s message, I want to update you on some extremely important information regarding the opening of school. Based on current health data trends in Delaware County coupled with emerging logistical issues related to the district’s staffing, I will recommend to the Board that the district begin the 2020-21 school year virtually. We would remain in virtual learning throughout the month of September. If health data stabilizes and the health experts are comfortable with reopening schools, we would then bring back cohorts of students on alternating days. Decisions regarding bringing back students would occur during the September 22nd School Board meeting, and then the implementation bringing in cohorts of students would occur during the beginning of October.

Since it has been several days since we presented our instructional delivery options, Dr. Hutchinson created an overview of our fully online format, which includes significantly more live instruction, engagement, and structure than last year’s virtual model. To access the overview, please CLICK HERE. Dr. Hutchinson and her team will be offering live informational sessions detailing specifics about the virtual learning plan beginning next week. These Zoom sessions will be scheduled both during the day and during the evening to give parents maximum flexibility. We will also record the sessions so that parents can review them at their leisure. A registration email will go out later this week so that you can sign up to attend.

Realizing that community members will want to know why we are proposing a change to the plan the Board approved on July 28th, I am providing a detailed overview of the reasoning behind it.

COVID-19 Trend Data in Delaware County–On Tuesday I met with county superintendents, representatives from the Chester County Department of Health, Dr. David Rubin, Director of PolicyLab and Director of Population Health Innovation at CHOP, and Dr. P.J. Brennan, an infectious disease specialist with the University of Pennsylvania Health System. During the meeting, superintendents learned that case counts are rising in Delaware County with 513 new cases in the week ending July 31^st compared to 380 new cases the week before. Case counts are the number of people who are testing positive for COVID-19. These counts include children and adults.

We also learned that when looking at our public health data, it is critical to review both the daily positive case counts, cumulative cases and counts over 7 and 14 days. Other data points are also evaluated, including hospitalizations and deaths. Based on this trajectory, we are still experiencing an upward trend both in our county and region. CLICK HERE to view an interactive map that helps to show the increases.

Predicting the course of the pandemic is difficult, primarily because it relies on personal responsibility to follow masking and social distancing guidelines, and to obey travel restrictions. These simple steps will accelerate the reduction of positive cases. With so many of our families going on and/or returning from vacations, we believe that these trends will continue, especially when students return to school after the Labor Day holiday.

It is our hope that depopulating our schools for one month will allow for any potential infections brought into our community from holiday travel to lessen before bringing large groups of students and educators into school. The worst scenario would be opening schools only to close them a few days later because of an outbreak. In the meantime, and in collaboration with health officials and experts, we will continue to review public health and medical recommendations for school reopening.

Logistical Complexities–As I’m sure you are aware, more and more school districts are electing to start the year virtually. Although these decisions are the responsibility of individual districts, their impact is shared throughout the region. For example, in Garnet Valley we have several employees with children in schools that have elected to start the year virtually. As a result, staff members are being forced to seek federally approved leaves of absence. This dynamic is exacerbated by those who require leave for pre-existing conditions and other high risk factors. Additionally, throughout the summer we have had employees who were symptomatic or who had family members infected with the virus. These individuals were required to stay out of work for several days with some remaining home for two weeks. As we try to plan for the implications of having employees on leave, coupled with the potential of employees having to quarantine or recover, the practical “boots on ground” realities of keeping schools running remains complex.

However, despite these obstacles, the district has already secured 24 substitutes exclusive to the Garnet Valley School District, and has partnered with the YMCA to provide affordable childcare options for our employees. For those who have requested long term leaves of absence, we have begun hiring replacements. Again, we continue to work toward our main objective, which is to get our students back in school for in person learning.

Other Important Areas of Interest Impacted by this Change

Special Education–The district recognizes the challenges that virtual learning has on all students; however, we realize that some of our learners need even more support based on the special education services that they receive. Terri Bracken, Director of Pupil Services, along with our Assistant Directors Kim Hassel-Klauss and Dan Arrison will communicate directly with parents to explain the nuances of their individualized learning plans in this virtual environment. Please CLICK HERE for additional information about special education services for September.

Athletics and Extracurricular Activities–We believe that extracurricular activities are fundamental to students' social and emotional health. We also know that parents and students are concerned about their status as the opening of school approaches. As a district, we fully support extracurricular activities as long as we can ensure the physical health of our students and adults. Safety standards will be made uniform between academic and extracurricular programs. It is important to point out that these activities may look very different this year as some may be virtual and some may have to break participants into smaller groups.

To this end, all Varsity and JV practices are delayed until at least September 7th with all competitions delayed until at least September 25th for football, boys and girls soccer, field hockey, cross country, and volleyball. Girls tennis competitions will be delayed until at least September 14th and golf until September 11th. 9th Grade and Middle School Practices will be delayed until at least September 28th with competitions delayed until at least October 12th. These delays are designed to give the district time to monitor health data and other related factors that will impact our athletics program.

If we are able to have competitions, they will be against Central League schools only and will be predicated on the availability and “doability” of transportation. As with everything during the pandemic, this timeline could change as information and conditions evolve.

All other extracurriculars including marching band and the performing arts will start as schools reopen as long as they are able to adhere to the health precautions and can be delivered virtually. Again, this plan gives us time to monitor and adjust to conditions. Frankly, if forced to make a decision today, we would have to cancel our extracurricular activities, but like our approach to academics, we are doing our best to preserve as many facets of our programming for students as possible.

Next Steps

Our School Board continues to value transparent communication. As a result, they will vote on changing our reopening plan from a hybrid model to an all virtual model on August 10th. As we have done previously, the community can utilize this link (CLICK HERE) to comment and ask questions. In addition, I will communicate the link to the August 10th Board meeting in the next few days for those of you who are interested in attending virtually.

Sincerely,

Dr. Marc Bertrando, Superintendent

Garnet Valley School District

Dear School Community,

On Tuesday night the Garnet Valley School District Board of Directors unanimously voted to approve the Opening of School plan for the 2020-21 academic year. The approved plan encompasses all of the safety protocols provided by the state and county departments of health, the Pennsylvania Department of Education, and the Governor’s office. The entire health and safety plan can be found by clicking here.

I want to be clear that the approved plan will evolve as new information becomes available. In fact, an article in today's Philadelphia Inquirer detailed that Delaware County is experiencing a sharp increase in new cases, and this may very well affect our opening plans. We are in constant communication with the Delaware County superintendents, as well as representatives from County Council, and the Department of Health.

In the absence of any further developments, the plan that was approved on Tuesday is mostly the same as the one we presented to the public on July 20th with two enhancements to our instructional delivery options. Below is an overview of the delivery options with the enhancements.

Hybrid in Person by Cohort–Students attend in person according to last name (A-K & L-Z) and school schedule. Some other key details about this delivery model include:

• When not attending in person, students attend virtually from home using video conferencing tools

• Students alternate each day Monday-Thursday; Friday is a virtual day for all students (NEW OPTION)

• Class materials, assignments, assessments, and instruction accessed through Schoology and/or paper and pencil

• Live, direct instruction and engagement

Fully Online Synchronous (NEW OPTION)–Students attend all classes virtually with their assigned teacher and classmates. Some other key details about this delivery model include:

• Class materials, assignments, assessments, and instruction accessed through Schoology

• Some additional expectations for parents/caregivers (ex. printing class materials)

• Live, direct instruction and engagement

eSchool Format Asynchronous–Students learn online and asynchronously.

• Asynchronous Learning: refers to a learning event in which a group of teachers and students are engaging in learning at different times

• No live instruction

• Students work independently, no engagement with other students

• Flexible schedule set by families

• Self-paced meeting pre-established due dates for assignments

For an overview of each option along with examples of student schedules, click the first link below. Dr. Hutchinson, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction, has also narrated a detailed overview that will align with the presentation. To view the narrative, click the second link below.

• Hybrid Learning Options Presentation

• Hybrid Learning Options Narrative

Although the plan has been approved, please understand that it will continue to evolve as we receive more information from health experts. Finally, with permission of GVSD, several parents have created a community based initiative. Their goal is to be able to provide high quality cloth face masks to students who normally qualify for free/discounted school lunches in our district. They are hoping to raise $2,000 for supplies to make 900 masks prior to August 24th. They would be thrilled to receive assistance from anyone who is interested in helping out. Additionally, after masks have been donated to students in need, remaining masks will be given to teachers from CES, BES & GVES to be used in their classrooms and loaned out to students as needed.

No donation is too small. Financial donations for supplies can be made here: https://gf.me/u/yhaniy

Additional volunteers who sew are needed as well. Please sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040F4BA4AC2EA0FC1-volunteers

If you would like to donate supplies/material or have questions, please connect via their Facebook page. It also includes additional information about the project: https://www.facebook.com/groups/940063589843681

Have a great afternoon,

Dr. Marc Bertrando, Superintendent

Garnet Valley School District

Dear School Community,

Thank you so much for your conscientious feedback and thoughtful questions. As of writing this email, we've received 448 comments and questions from community members. We are in the process of categorizing and synthesizing parents' questions and answering them on the FAQ page. Currently, we've posted over 70 questions with answers from our instructional leadership team. The school community can find them on our reopening page which can be viewed by clicking here. Comments have been added to our site, and can be found by clicking here. For those community members who still want to make comments, ask questions, or inquire about the district’s online learning option please click here.

I want to reinforce that your questions and comments are important to us and are being used to refine and enhance our plan to reopen schools. For example, there are two specific areas in which the district is actively working based on feedback. The first area is creating a more structured schedule for our plan to bring in cohorts of students on alternating days. We are currently looking at a once a week virtual day that will give working parents a routine schedule to accommodate child care needs. Originally, based on parents’ strong feedback that they wanted as much face-to-face learning as possible along with a perception that a virtual day would be used as a “day off,” we decided to use the schedule that was presented in Monday’s message. However, your feedback has been clear that parents need a more structured schedule, and we’re working on it.

The second area of focus based on the feedback is for a synchronous, virtual option for families who are not comfortable sending their children to school. We have the technical capacity to provide it to families, but again, based on previous feedback and the inherent complexities that the option creates from a teaching and learning standpoint along with the difficulties for students in being 100% virtual without physical access to the classroom and materials, we removed it as an option. However, it is clear that parents want this option for their children, and we are committed to providing it, if at all possible. We will communicate more information, in regards to both alternating schedule and synchronous virtual learning, as details emerge

As I mentioned in my last message, the School Board will vote on the GVSD Health and Safety Plan to reopen schools for the 2020-21 academic year. This plan reflects the guidelines, guidance, recommendations, and mandates generated by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Pennsylvania Department of Health, Chester County Department of Health, which is Delaware County’s health authority, and the Governor’s Office. This approval, however, is only the first step in what will be an evolving, iterative process that takes health department guidance and the feedback of the students, parents, and teachers into account. Therefore, the reopening plan is subject to change as we get closer to September 1st.

For those community members who wish to virtually attend the meeting, the Zoom link can be accessed by clicking here. Since we are unable to have a public gathering of more than 25 people, the Board and administration will be together live, and the community will attend virtually. During the meeting there will be opportunities for individuals to make public comments. Individuals will simply need to use the chat function to state their desire to comment as well as provide their name and address. Individuals will be called upon in order, and their comments will be limited to three minutes. We ask that you do not repeat comments that were already submitted through the google form as the Board receives unedited and unredacted daily updates of every comment that is submitted. I also wanted to remind those of you who plan to attend the virtual meeting, that it is not designed to be a question and answer session. Questions can be submitted through the Google Form we provided and will be answered in the FAQ section of the reopening school page. This process will ensure that all questions are adequately answered in a way that can be memorialized and shared with the entire community. Again, the Google Form can be found by clicking here.

Sincerely,

Dr. Marc Bertrando, Superintendent

Garnet Valley School District

Dear School Community,

This message provides a great deal of important information regarding the opening of our 2020-21 Academic Year. Our district created two options, the first option would bring cohorts of students into school for in person instruction on alternating days. While one cohort is in person, the “at home” cohort attends class synchronously via webcam and/or distance learning technology. The other option is virtual learning, which the district would employ only as a result of governmental order or under advisement from the Department of Health. This option is similar to what we used during the closure but with more synchronous, live teaching and learning opportunities. Even in our best efforts, with recent guidance regarding the minimum six feet social distancing from health officials and the Department of Education, bringing back all students for an entirely in person learning structure proved to be impossible.

Please take time to go through the details of the plans, make comments, and ask questions. The remainder of the message provides links to documents, presentations, and a form that students, parents, teachers, and support staff can use to meet their needs. However, we understand that summer schedules are extremely complicated and parents are pressed for time. Therefore, we tried to structure the information in a manner that allows you to go through it in sections and gives you simplified access should you wish to revisit it. Additionally, our website will act as a repository of all information related to the opening of school. The Opening of School site can be found by CLICKING HERE.

Below are the links to Opening of School Information. The Executive Summary provides a broad overview of the plan as well as the beliefs and processes that helped to create it. Next are a series of short narrated PowerPoint presentations that will provide the school community with context and details regarding our Process and Beliefs, 2020-21 Health and Safety Plan, Opening of School Options, Instructional Delivery, and Fully Online Format. Community members should simply hover their cursor over the underlined text that reads “CLICK HERE” and they will have access to the information. The links are designed to be read sequentially, but it is not necessary if you want to skip to specific sections.

• CLICK HERE for the Executive Summary, which gives community members a general overview of our plans.

• CLICK HERE for a 4:13 minute, narrated PowerPoint presentation on the Process and Beliefs that the District used to develop its plans.

• CLICK HERE for a 10:04 minute, narrated PowerPoint presentation on the District’s 2020-21 Health and Safety Plan. To read the full 2020-21 Garnet Valley School District Health and Safety Plan, please CLICK HERE.

• CLICK HERE for a 5:43 minute, narrated PowerPoint presentation on the Opening of Schools Options that the District is considering.

• CLICK HERE for a 8:37 minute, narrated PowerPoint presentation on the Instructional Delivery options that will be available for students and their families during the 2020-21 Academic Year when schools are open for some form of live instruction.

• CLICK HERE for a 4:56 minute, narrated PowerPoint presentation on the Fully Online Format option that will be available for students and their families if schools are forced to close through governmental order or other unforeseen circumstance associated with COVID-19.

Throughout this process our school community’s feedback has helped us to refine and improve our practices and programming. Consequently, after reviewing the information contained in the presentations, please use the link below to provide your comments, feedback, and questions. The Opening of School site will feature an FAQ page, updated on an ongoing basis, and here we will post the results of the school community’s feedback.

• Click here to access the form for all to submit questions, comments, and feedback.

Please know that we value your input and the Board will have access to it leading up to their meeting on July 28th. Although health guidelines prohibit us from inviting the public to attend live, we will share the Zoom link so that the public can participate virtually. Another communication will come out as we get closer to the meeting date.

As always, thank you so much for your conscientiousness, flexibility and support. We realize that parenting is incredibly difficult in today’s environment. Make sure to take care of yourself while you’re taking care of your children. If you need any additional support as your children react to yet another disruption to their normal lives, this article produced by the National Association of School Psychologist offers some great suggestions and includes other resources that can help. To access the article CLICK HERE.

Dr. Marc Bertrando, Superintendent

Garnet Valley School District