Butler County schools on Monday received additional advisement from state officials regarding back-to-school models as the school year draws near.

“At the end of the day, I think the tool is good, but it would have been nice to have it in July,” said Superintendent Brian White of the Butler Area School District. “It makes some of the work we've done irrelevant, and that's disappointing.”

According to a news release by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the newest recommendations add thresholds for which instructional models should be used based on statistics over a seven-day period.

The state recommends either full, in-person learning or blended learning for counties within the “low” level of risk for community transmission, which equates to 10 or fewer incidences per 100,000 residents over a seven-day period.

The “moderate” level, between 11 to 100 incidences per week, recommends blended learning or full remote learning, and at the “substantial” level, 101 incidences or more, the state recommends full remote learning. “We remain committed to helping our school leaders make thoughtful decisions about the 2020-21 school year, while helping Pennsylvania stem the tide of COVID-19 infections in our communities,” said Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine in the news release.

According to a report by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Butler County added 10 new confirmed cases Monday. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the county has 612 confirmed cases and 15 deaths attributed to COVID-19.

With a population of 187,888, Butler County's 10 cases Monday put it already halfway over the “low” level threshold.

From Aug. 3 to 9, Butler County added 40 cases, which would have likely designated it in the “moderate” level during that time frame.

Over the past few weeks, many county school districts have planned to open school with full in-person education, but have plans in place in case they need to switch to other modes of teaching.

“I'm not sure it's a horrible thing to have,” White said. “Having some type of metric and measurement makes some sense.”

But the recommendations have come with only a few weeks left until school begins and in the midst of controversy regarding school athletics.

White said in both the dispute with the PIAA and the new recommendations, he understands the need for the guidance, but it fails in some regard too. “You don't plan for next year right now,” he said. “You do this in a thoughtful way, months ahead of time.”