Hempfield Area students and staff will not be required to wear masks this year under a health and safety plan approved by the school board.

The plan, unanimously approved during this week’s school board meeting, will allow parents to decide if they want their child to wear a mask in school. Students will be required to wear masks while riding on school buses, per a federal order.

“That is an order we do have to follow, but we’ll provide the option for families otherwise,” said Superintendent Tammy Wolicki.

Wolicki noted district leaders will communicate guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency, in guidance released this month, recommends that those who have not received the vaccine or are partially vaccinated should wear a mask while those who are fully vaccinated do not need to wear one.

CDC recommendations will not be enforced by district leaders.

Plans also include a full reopening for in-person learning for all students, along with a full cyber option for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. That’s a change from the 2020-21 school year, when students largely attended classes through a hybrid model, or a mix of in-person and online classes.

So far, few families indicated their child will attend the Hempfield Area Cyber Academy during the upcoming school year, Wolicki noted.

In addition to not requiring face coverings, the district also will not provide overflow rooms, which were previously used to help students social distance during the day.

“With many more students in our schools on a daily basis, there will not be as much social distancing as there was last year,” Wolicki said.

The district will continue to conduct contact tracing if positive cases are reported, which, Wolicki said, helps to reduce spread within schools.

“While I know some would prefer that we no longer would have to contact trace, this becomes quite a challenge,” she said. “It does reduce the spread in our schools when we respond quickly to identify those individuals who may have been impacted and share that information with the (state) Department of Health so that they can inform individuals.”

Surfaces will continue to be cleaned during the day and board members next month will consider having a company come in to test air quality within school buildings.

In addition to approving the health and safety plan, board members also approved an updated attendance policy, which returns the number of excused absences to 10 before requiring a medical excuse. District leaders in November increased the number of excused absences to 15 in an effort to keep students home if they were experiencing covid symptoms.

The decision over how to have students return to classes in the upcoming school year comes as people across the state continue to get vaccinated for covid-19.

According to data from the Pennsylvania Department of Health, more than 156,500 people in Westmoreland County are fully vaccinated while about 13,160 are partially vaccinated.

“Hopefully, with the number of vaccinations in the community and reduced spread, we will also see that carried over into our schools,” Wolicki said.

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