By SARIT LASCHINSKY

Special to The Press

At the beginning of their March 17 school board meeting, after listening to several comments from residents and parents about bringing back in-person learning, Northwestern Lehigh administrators provided information on the district’s COVID-19 situation, and plans to bring back students.

Assistant Superintendent Troy Sosnovik briefly explained how the district analyzed COVID-19 data received via national, state, county and regional levels, as well as how they determined district-level information.

He then reviewed the two key metrics used by the state to determine the type of district instructional model.

The first is PCR, the percent positivity rate, which measures the percentage of PCR tests administered that result in positive cases over time.

Regarding trends in the test results, Sosnovik said the data showed a surge during the holiday season which peaked in January, but has since declined.

He also said Lehigh County entered the moderate range of transmission Feb. 19, and the district’s medical advisers have suggested this metric portrays the most accurate level of spread in the community.

For the second metric, incident rate per 100,000 residents, Sosnovik said a similar trend was present showing a holiday surge and subsequent drop-off.

He said the district’s weighted and unweighted data both show Northwestern Lehigh having entered the moderate level of community spread Feb. 26, but he noted that Lehigh County overall is still in the substantial category.

Moving on to the instructional models, Sosnovik explained that on March 3, the state department of education released updates for determining instructional models for prekindergarten to grade 12 schools for the second semester.

He said these changes were in response to research that schools were not a source of community transmission.

The changes have removed “blended” models, which reduce the number of students physically in schools to allow for 6 feet of social distancing - as an option at the low community transmission level, “fully remote” options at the moderate spread level, and also added blended learning for elementary students only during substantial transmission.

Sosnovik then discussed the definitions of social distancing, which have been updated by organizations, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, to stress 3- to 6 feet of distance “to the greatest extent possible.”

However, he said social distancing is not the “silver bullet” of mitigation efforts, but instead one approach to a multilayered strategy which can lessen, but not eliminate, the risk of COVID-19.

Sosnovik said Northwestern Lehigh’s mitigation plan, which has been in effect since the beginning of the pandemic, includes social distancing, facial coverings, frequent and effective hand hygiene, disinfection and cleaning, ventilation, vaccinations and more.

He noted vaccine distributions have been “much welcome.”

Sosnovik touched on Gov. Tom Wolf’s move to allocate the one-dose Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine to school employees, by saying the district has been able to offer immunizations to all elementary and secondary educators who wanted one in the first phase of vaccinations.

Sosnovik added a second vaccination phase is being organized by Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit 21, which has been distributing shots, and he was “hopeful” all employees will have the option to be vaccinated in the coming weeks.

Furthermore, with regard to the district’s positive case numbers Sosnovik said they had seen the familiar holiday surge and drop-off, and to date there had been 67 positive cases, or 2.6 percent of the total student and staff population.

“What I can share with you about these cases are the vast majority of them were a result of confirmed exposures outside school,” Sosnovik said. “Since the beginning, we’ve had a theme saying that ‘together, we’ll get through this,’ and I believe the results you see before you represent many of us doing our part to mitigate the spread of this disease.”

Sosnovik said the district continues to ask the community to be vigilant as the pandemic is still ongoing, and to remember Lehigh County is still in a substantial spread level.

He said the board had signed an attestation which means “it only takes a couple positive cases for us to enact a required closure by the state.

“Basically, what I’m saying is listen, we’ve made it this far, we just need to keep it up.”

On the subject of phasing in a return to in-person learning, Sosnovik said the administration has been planning since fall 2020 and tackling challenges such as community transmission, vaccinations, building ventilation and social distancing, and the phase-in will continue.

He said the district stared the return to in-person learning with elementary students because the district realized it is not developmentally age-appropriate for these young students to be taught online.

Sosnovik explained that the majority of elementary classrooms could maintain six-foot social distancing.

While the original announcement of bringing back kindergarten and first graders for four days of in-person instruction per week were delayed due to the coronavirus surge, Sosnovik said the district had made the right decision to “hold tight,” and that on Jan. 26, kindergarten and first grade students had returned to in-person learning.

Furthermore, second- and third-graders returned for four days in-person Feb. 22.

Sosnovik said remaining fourth and fifth graders were to return March 22 with 3 to 6 feet of social distancing.

He noted there had been additional changes for fourth- and fifth grades because of the number of students and space limitations within classrooms.

Around 15 students needed to be moved to a different school building to maintain social distancing.

Overall, Sosnovik said by March 22, around 91 percent of Weisenberg Elementary students, and 85 percent of Northwestern Elementary will have returned to four day, in-person learning.

For secondary school students, Sosnovik said the plan was to return the middle school students for four days in-person starting April 6, and that 3-to 6 feet of social distancing would be observed.

Due to positive and outstanding cases at the high school, these students’ in-person return was on hold, and the district will continue to monitor the situation.

“Although things are moving in the right direction, we have to remember not to be complacent, because honestly we’re still in a pandemic,” Sosnovik said, adding all COVID-19 mitigation strategies as outlined in the district’s Health and Safety Plan will continue to be enforced.

He also said the district community must recognize the potential of returning to a blended or remote model still exists if COVID-19 trends increase, a new variant emerges or an outbreak occurs, and parents should have a “plan B” prepared.

Sosnovik concluded by imploring parents to make wise choices to keep the schools open and operating, follow the student screening procedure each day when sending students to school, and keep their children home if they are sick with any illness.

“If you suspect anything, err on the side of caution because I think everyone wants to come back at this point,” Sosnovik said.

Parents can email covidscreening@nwlehighsd.org if their child has any COVID-related issue, and all other communications and updates are available on the district’s COVID-19 Web page.