Pottstown Schools to Cancel All In-Person Teaching

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Pottstown Schools Superintendent Stephen Rodriguez

As the spike in coronavirus cases continues to grow, school districts continue to struggle wit the effort to balance the benefits of in-person learning, with the potential for those efforts to add to community spread of COVID-19.

Since March, the vast majority of Pottstown school students have been learning from home, thanks to efforts to provide computers and Internet connections for those without them.

The exceptions have been the district's career and technical students at Pottstown High School, and certain special education students for whom in-person education is most necessary.

But now, with the increasing number of coronavirus cases endangering safety, Pottstown Schools Superintendent Stephen Rodriguez announced Wednesday that even those relatively few students taking in-person classes will be stopped for the rest of the year, starting Monday, Dec. 14.

What follows is the letter he sent home Wednesday evening and posted on the school district's Facebook page and webpage.

What follows below is the text of that message:

Over the past 2 weeks, we have seen an increase in students and staff Covid-testing positive or needing to quarantine due to possible Covid-19 exposure. We are also seeing an increasing positivity in our community:

• As of 11/25/20 Positivity Rate of 8.4%
• As of 12/03/20 Positivity Rate of 7.9%
• As of 12/9/20 Positivity Rate of 10.3%

Due to the rise in COVID-19 cases within our school district and our community, all limited in-person instruction will revert to virtual instruction starting next week, Monday, Dec. 14, until the beginning of the holiday break on Dec. 23. 

This includes all special education, career and tech education, elementary pilot programs, and pre-K counts classes.

Co-Curricular programs have had no positive cases thus far. Until further notice these programs will continue to be offered with all mitigation protocols in place. However the decision to continue activities is subject to change dependent upon identified positive COVID cases.

Looking at our nation, our state, and our Pottstown community, it seems clear that the next few weeks and months will be challenging with Covid-19 and safety concerns. Everyone wants to know what the next step will be. Do we start a hybrid program on Jan. 19th? Will we stay in a virtual instructional format until the positivity rate decreases? Most importantly, when will we know? These are all good questions, for which there are no good answers yet. 

What I can say for certain is that we will:

• Prepare for the worst, and hope for the best
• Make decisions as early as possible so that families can plan and staff can prepare
• Continue to update you and
• Keep safety as our primary concern.

Thank you for your continued support and flexibility. 

Throughout these very challenging times, the Pottstown School District and Community continues to display teamwork and a supportive attitude, which are the very ingredients to overcome any adversity. 

I am confident that we will get through this together, and at the same time be able to say “Proud to be from Pottstown.”