Coronavirus leaves 32,000 PA Students Out Of School - Scheduled Closings Will Add 44,000 More

Across the country, over 100 schools or entire districts are closed with another 25 scheduled to close. Pennsylvania currently has 11 schools or districts closed with 8 more scheduled to close. The total enrollment numbers of currently closed PA schools is over 32,000 students. Over 44,000 students attend PA schools scheduled to close this week.

Statewide:

Schools currently closed include Cheltenham School District, Simmons Elementary School, Lower Merion School District , Germantown Academy, Buckingham Friends School, Neshaminy High School, Norristown Area School District, Patton Middle School, Unionville High School, Upper Merion School District, and Henderson High School.

Crefeld School in Philadelphia is testing a "remote schooling day" today where students will participate in classes remotely to test the systems currently in place in the event that the school should have to close for an extended period of time.

Local:

As a proactive step, Hazleton Area School District has asked students who recently returned to the country to not return to school. The district also planned to close registration for a short period, but the Department of Education would not allow this decision.

The University of Pennsylvania is preparing to move classes online, if necessary, and is prohibiting all future university-related travel and curtailing large university events at least until April 17. It is strongly recommending canceling or postponing university meetings or events of 100 people or more, and meetings that include people from other cities and countries, even if fewer than 100 people.

Penn Medicine has prohibited all faculty, students and staff of both the Perelman School of Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania Health System from participating in large gatherings.

What To Expect:

Sources say that various Luzerne and Schuylkill County schools are making preliminary plans for extended school closures which including the ability for students to continue schoolwork from home for multiple weeks.

With the current behavior of the virus, local cases can be expected this month. Based on previous reactions in Pennsylvania, in other states, and globally, we can assume that local school closures are unavoidable. The question at this time is how long will the schools remain closed? 

As the CDC has stated weeks ago, US citizens should be prepared for an extended period of missing work and school.