OUR GOAL:
To return to our instructional program in our buildings with a focus on the safety and welfare of the students, staff, and visitors. The planning of the return to schools has been the focus of our work with every attempt being made to bring our students and staff back to our school buildings.

Our belief and desire is to bring our students to SGASD schools for the educational programs that they need, our families’ desire, and we work to deliver.  We also believe that the social, emotional, and physical wellbeing of each child is paramount to their success in our schools and the foundation for a bright future.

The planning for the return to school in the 2020-2021 school year is assigned to six Task Forces addressing a major component of schools’ operations.  They are:

1. Transportation
2. School Spaces
3. Learning
4. Nutrition Services
5. Athletics and Extra-curricular
6. People

Staff from all areas of the School District’s operations were invited to participate and share insight, expertise, and options to consider.

The backdrop to the efforts was, and remains, the compliance with directives from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, through the Department of Education (PDE) and the Department of Health (DOH), the recommendations from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), any direction from the York County Emergency Management Agency, and the advice of multiple state-wide organizations and other local authorities.

Week of June 9th: Six School Re-Opening Task Forces formed

June 22nd: School Board Review of Athletics/Extra-Curricular Health & Safety Plan (Board approved June 22, 2020)

July 6th: School Board Preview of SGASD Health & Safety Plan

July 13th: School Board Vote of SGASD Health & Safety Plan

STATE DIRECTIVES & CDC GUIDELINES

• The Pennsylvania Department of Health FAQs on the Order Requiring Universal Face Coverings
  
  
• The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) published Preliminary Guidance. It sets requirements and recommendations for schools at each phase of reopening. 
  
  
• The CDC published Considerations for Schools. It provides guidance on most aspects of school operations.
  
  
• PDE commissioned a report, Considerations for Re-Opening Pennsylvania Schools, to analyze evidence and research on COVID-19, conduct interviews with key education stakeholders, and model results from various reopening strategies. 
  
  
• Professional organizations in Pennsylvania collaborated to form a task force on reopening, which published a report, the Pennsylvania School Re-Opening Task Force Report.