Kiski Area school board discusses covid transmission in county, preparations for more in-person learning

Kiski Area School District is still preparing to offer four days of in-person instruction, but the district is ready for a return to remote learning if needed, Superintendent Tim Scott said during a virtual school board meeting Monday.

Westmoreland County on Monday moved to the highest level of community transmission on the state’s Early Warning Monitoring System, now marked as “substantial.”

The designation, Scott explained, is given to counties once their covid-19 incidence rate in the preceding seven days rises above 100 infections per 100,000 residents. Westmoreland County’s incidence rate in the last week landed at 140 infections per 100,000 residents.

The state Department of Health and Department of Education recommend that schools in counties with the “substantial” designation move to 100% remote learning, but the ultimate decision still lies with individual school districts.

“Everything remains a local decision,” Scott said during the meeting.

But the state’s recommendations still leave a gray area when it comes to decision-making. Scott pointed out that while 30 of Westmoreland County’s 78 zip codes and the county as a whole have “substantial” community transmission, geographic data specific to Kiski Area show the incidence rate is still only 48.71 cases per 100,000 residents in the area. Cases are rising, he said, but there is still only “moderate” transmission within the district.

There are several school districts in the county that haven’t reported any infections in school buildings, and others still that are discussing next steps after the state marked the county as having substantial community transmission.

Scott said it can be frustrating to set a course for the district when data is changing daily, and guidance is unspecific.

“We keep going back and forth, being told things are local decisions, but there are these mandates that are dressed up as recommendations,” he said.

Given the latest development, Scott said Kiski Area will continue preparing to increase the district’s in-person instruction time, but will also be ready to “pull back” to 100% remote learning for all students if needed. The district will continue to monitor community transmission in the next two weeks and make decisions accordingly.

“We certainly need to balance, as we always have, the educational needs of our students with the health and safety of our students and the entire community,” he said during Monday’s meeting.

Kiski Area’s four-day, in-person instruction option would not go into practice until Nov. 2 at the earliest. The district began discussing the possible four-day model at a meeting last week.

Kiski Area offers a 100% remote learning option and a hybrid model that allows for two days of in-person instruction a week. The four-day option would not replace either of the existing models, but would offer a third option for families.