Pa. Governor Tom Wolf made an announcement closing all schools throughout the state for the remainder of the school year on Thursday.

“We must continue our efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus during this national crisis,” Wolf said in a statement. “This was not an easy decision but closing schools until the end of the academic year is in the best interest of our students, school employees, and families.”

The announcement also says Wolf’s administration is advising schools that the facilities “are strongly encouraged to provide continuity of education for all students in the most appropriate and accessible ways possible.”

Wolf’s announcement outlines the educational facilities covered by this announcement, noting it impacts “all public K-12 schools, brick and mortar and cyber charter schools, private and parochial schools, career and technical centers, and intermediate units.” Meanwhile, Wolf explained that colleges and universities will not be allowed to reopen their physical locations until the closure of businesses not deemed “life sustaining” is lifted or there is a separate order issued in regard to those educational facilities.

McKean County superintendents were prepared for this possibility, with plans in place to continue education for students from home.

Bradford

“Physical school buildings are closed but learning is still happening within the Bradford Area School District,” said Bradford Superintendent Katy Pude. “As much as it saddens all of us that the schools are now closed for the year, we need to understand that the Governor made his decision for the health and safety of all of our residents, respect his decision, and resume with both our teaching and learning.”

Pude noted that the Bradford Area School District staff, teachers and administrators have been working very hard to make sure that learning still happens for students throughout the remainder of the year.

“Our Continuity of Education plan is posted on our webpage and was recently approved by our School Board. Our teachers are hosting online lessons and class meetings, and paper copies of lessons are being provided to families without internet access,” she said. “Students, in turn, are expected to complete as many of the lessons as possible and to return their learning logs to their teachers when they are notified to do so. We will continue with this plan for the remainder of the school year, with bi-weekly lesson plans posted to our website and with online options and paper copies continuing.

“Teachers will also be available to students with established virtual office hours throughout the day. What we are seeing from our teachers is so inspiring and the work that our students are sharing is phenomenal. Everyone is truly doing their best and so many are stretching beyond our greatest expectations!”

Pude noted that parents and students should not feel alone during this process. Despite the social distancing efforts in place, help is still a phone call away.

“As we proceed through the remainder of this year, we want any student or parent who may need our assistance with access to schoolwork or just help in general to please reach out to our schools and leave a message if we don’t immediately answer,” she said. “We are here to support each and every one of our students and their families and know the importance of continuing education and providing some normalcy during this most difficult of times.”

Otto-Eldred

The Otto-Eldred School District implemented a “School Restart” on April 2, which organized education through online resources. The plan included allowing students to visit the parking lots of the Elementary and High School to access Wi-Fi and otherwise make sure that all students receive access to instruction, through either internet-based resources or paper resources for those without internet access.

“We were prepared for this possibility. Unfortunately, it does not come as a surprise. We will now be able to better answer some questions that remained related to events such as prom, concerts and our graduation ceremony,” said Otto-Eldred Superintendent Matt Splain. “Students, parents and teachers now know what to expect for the remainder of the school year. Everyone will be disappointed, but everyone has been very understanding. We are all in this together and we will help each other through.”

Kane

“When we designed our plan for continuity of instruction I think everyone knew there was a strong possibility students wouldn’t physically be returning to school this year. We officially started delivering online programming to all students, K-12, on April 6. We are off to a great start, with over 98% of our students logging on,” said Kane Superintendent Brock R. Benson. “Our teachers have also done an excellent job adjusting to a new system in a very short amount of time. Our plans are to continue with online instruction, following our current school calendar, through May 28. It is important that we continue to provide our students access to the content that normally would have been covered during the fourth marking period.”

Oswayo Valley

Oswayo Valley School District implemented a Continuity of Education plan on March 30. The plan, posted to the district website, calls for teachers to use Google Classroom with their students and utilize digital resources, including Study Island, Scholastic resources and others already incorporated into previous lesson plans.

When asked if Thursday’s announcement will impact that plan, Oswayo Valley Superintendent Jed Hamberger indicated it would not.

“The impact will be to continue what we have had in place since the original school closure,” Hamberger said.

Oswayo Valley students have been receiving meals from the district on Mondays and Fridays. This will continue. Meanwhile, the building was closed and a time to pick up student items was scheduled for Wednesday of this week.

Plans for area seniors

“We miss all of our students and we recognize that this is very difficult for all of them. This is especially true for our Seniors who may feel that they are missing milestones that they rightly earned through years of hard work. We are looking at ways that we can celebrate them and to assure them that we have not forgotten this important time in their lives,” said Pude. “We certainly recognize that the graduation ceremony means so much to students and their families and will do all we can to make it memorable. Although we may only have virtual options at this point, should the Summer or even early Fall allow us the capability of holding a physical ceremony, we will certainly plan to do just that!”

The mood for Kane seniors is very similar, with plans to make whatever efforts possible when the time is right.

“The group I feel for the most are the seniors and their families. They are missing out on many of the traditional end of year activities and I know everyone feels terrible about that,” Benson said. “We will do our best to put together a proper graduation ceremony, following the social distancing guidelines in place at the time, for our senior class.”

Oswayo Valley SD officials seem to be in agreement as well, with potential plans in motion.

“Graduation plans are on hold at this point pending that there is a lift of the social distancing requirements,” Hamberger said. “We have pending alternative plans, but we are working on a two-week window of planning. Therefore, we don’t want to release information for graduation until we are closer to the event.”