Elizabethtown School Board approves reopening plan

Posted: Jul 15, 2020 / 05:53 AM EDT / Updated: Jul 15, 2020 / 12:23 PM EDT

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. (WHTM) — Elizabethtown Area School District is the latest in the Midstate to finalize its reopening plan.

The school board gave the plan the green light Tuesday night and it now goes to the state Department of Education for approval.

The district says masks are required for staff, and strongly encouraged for students when social distancing isn’t entirely doable, for example, when they’re on buses.

Traditional transportation schedules will be in place, but procedures are being updated, to allow for as much social distancing as possible.

Students will be spread out in classrooms.

Teachers are going to be encouraged to use the outdoors as a learning space sometimes too.

Building schedules and the movement between classes and lunch is all going to be reassesed, so that there aren’t crowds of kids in the hallways at the same time.

Staff is going to get extra training on how to prevent the spread of coronavirus, and there will be hand sanitizer throughout the schools.

For the time being, nonessential visitors will be limited.

Cumberland Valley, Susquehanna Township, and the six public school districts in Lebanon County are among the districts that have also released their reopening plans.