rachelh@myweeklysentinel.com
CANTON — Canton Area School District updated and approved its health and safety plan at the January meeting this month.
Attached to the website are press releases where parents can view the plan in full detail.
The last revision date for the plan was Thursday, Jan. 13.
According to the press release, The Canton Area School District will continue to implement, to the maximum extent possible, prevention and mitigation efforts, and develop policies and procedures that are aligned with the health and safety guidance from the Centers for Disease Control, Pennsylvania Department of Health, and the Pennsylvania Department of Education in order to ensure a safe reopening of schools for any summer programming and re-entry into school for the 2021-2022 school year.
It continues: The Canton Area School District will continue to monitor the allocation of resources to students and families while the students are in school and within the community. The district will use ESSER funds to address the unfinished learning needs of our students both academically and socially/emotionally. The district has partnered with the local Ministerium to continue with a food program for our students throughout the summer months until the start of school next fall. Additional resources will be added to the budget over the next three years to address the effects that the pandemic has had on students within our district.
For mask wearing, the press release states that the district will allow students, volunteers and staff members to voluntarily wear masks unless they are completing a quarantine as a close contact and still attending school. Bus drivers, staff and students will still need to wear masks while on district transportation, due to the order given by the department of health officials.
Pertaining to social distancing, the district will continue to promote physical distancing as much as possible.
Proper handwashing and respiratory etiquette will be continually displayed throughout the district and the district will also make public service announcements in the schools, encourage the school nurses to promote proper handwashing and respiratory etiquette, and encourage all other employee groups to promote proper handwashing and respiratory etiquette when practicable and appropriate.
The school also plans to continue replacing HVAC filters when necessary, as well as providing clean and sanitizing solutions.
CASD will exclude from school any student or staff who are showing symptoms of COVID-19 or who have tested positive. In addition, as required by Title 28, the district will complete contact tracing, notification of close contacts, and provide this information to the PA-DOH.
Effective Jan. 3, asymptomatic students who were determined to be a close contacts will not be excluded from school so long as they are able and willing to properly wear a face covering during the predetermined time from last exposure. If parents / guardians, upon notice of exposure, decide to exclude their student, absences for the dates of quarantine will be legal / excused.
Symptomatic students / staff and those who test positive regardless of symptoms, will be excluded from school for the remainder of the quarantine period or produce a negative test.
Those exposed at home to a positive case will be excluded from school.
The district does not provide vaccinations and will not consider being a host to a vaccination clinic. The district will provide reasonable accommodations, as appropriate, to students with disabilities with respect to health and safety strategies.
The district will continue to work with state and local officials on responses to the pandemic, when directly contacted. More details can be found on the district’s website.
Other news
The board voted to accept the Act 1 Resolution which certified that the board will not raise any school district tax for the 2022/2023 budget at a rate that exceeds the 4.9% index.
School officials also approved:
The 2022/2023 calendar, library reports, overnight field trip requests, overnight wrestling tournament requests, volunteer/hiring lists and employee paid/unpaid days.
They approved revised policies on personal necessity leave.
The next Canton Area School District Board of Education meeting will be Thursday, Feb. 10, at 5 p.m. in the high school library.