August 31, 2021
With just a few days until our exciting opening day for students, I am reaching out with an important update regarding masking in our schools. Until today, our approved health and safety plan indicated that the use of masks, when inside our schools, was recommended, matching the guidance from the PA Department of Health.
This afternoon the PA Department of Health issued an order that mandates the wearing of masks in schools, for all persons, regardless of vaccination status. This decision, which is no longer subject to local decision-making, means that any person in our schools and district buildings must wear a mask, just as we did last year, and is scheduled to take effect on our first day of school for students, Tuesday, September 7, 2021.
This new order applies to all students, staff, families and visitors in our schools. In a letter from the PA Department of Education, it was noted that this statewide health order reflects the fact that “all 67 counties [in PA] are reporting high or substantial rates of community transmission of COVID-19, and young people represent the largest remaining segment of our population that is unvaccinated, and therefore unprotected, from an infectious disease variant that is aggressively spreading”.
Our district has generally avoided the national, divisive mask debates simply by following rules when they are in effect, and doing the right things even when rules aren’t present. This year will be no different. For the start of this school year and at least until the mandate is lifted for our schools, all persons in our schools and district buildings must wear a mask in order to comply with the latest order from the PA Department of Health.
Please continue to check our district website as well as your email for the most up-to-date back to school messages as we prepare to open our doors to students for a productive 2021-2022 school year. Our Health and Safety communications will be updated in the next 24 hours to reflect the new mandate.
Sincerely Yours,
Dr. George Steinhoff
PDSD Superintendent of Schools
