JACKSON TWP —While the Seneca Valley School Board will vote next week on the district's health and safety plan for the upcoming school year, the uncertainty from last year has made a comeback.

The current, but tentative, proposed health and safety plan for Seneca Valley includes optional masks, the prioritization of outdoor spaces and frequent replacement of heating, ventilation and air conditioning filters in the district's buildings. But, like during the 2020-21 school year's proposed plans, it is not set in stone.

“This is a living document,” said board president Eric DiTullio. “I guarantee you this will change over the course of the next 12 months, because we don't know what's going to happen. All of our crystal balls broke a long time ago.”

The board did not vote on the proposal during Monday's work session meeting, a task they will take up next week.

The biggest change between the beginning of last school year and the current plan is how students will learn. Unlike in 2020, Seneca students are poised to attend school in-person five days a week.Superintendent Tracy Vitale said keeping schools open for in-person instruction is high on the district's priority list given the role it plays in both education and mental health.Although the district utilized synchronous, that is live-streamed, virtual learning during both the full-time virtual and blended learning phases of the 2020-21 school year, that option will not be available for students this year except in limited circumstances. Vitale said synchronous learning won't be available “out of convenience.”That changes, however, when students are quarantined as a result of COVID-19 infection or exposure. So long as the student's family either presents a doctor's note or communicates with school nursing staff, the letter states, live-streaming will be available for them.Masks are not required for either students or staff, under the current proposal, although it is still recommended unvaccinated individuals wear a face covering. On school buses, however, everyone must wear a mask under a January federal mandate.As has been the norm, cleaning will continue to include daily disinfection, hand sanitizer will be made available and hand-washing will be reinforced.The biggest piece of advice, said director of analytics and federal programs Marie Palano, has nothing to do with face coverings, hand sanitizer or HVAC systems.“Staying home when sick is the most effective way to minimize the risk of transmission of COVID-19,” Palano said.

Like David Bowie, the board is ready to turn and face the strange. But they won'tVitale said she recognizes she is no public health expert — “my doctorate is in education,” she said — but noted the rates of COVID-19 infection are rising nationwide, in Butler County and in Seneca Valley's Zip codes.On Friday, Vitale said, Seneca's Zip codes reported a seven-day rolling average of 31.65 cases per 100,000 residents. By Monday, she noted, it increased to 35.96 per 100,000.They're up, but they are not to the point they were this time in 2020, Vitale said. Still, given the new variant, things can change.“If the numbers go up substantially, I don't know what will happen,” Vitale said. “We could be given mandates. It really does remind me of last July and August.”But, she said, the health and safety plan is based on what is currently happening, not what might happen. If things change, Vitale said the board could convoke a special meeting to rehash a plan — but their job is not to predict the future of COVID-19 spread and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance.

Even though the district's current plan does not include a universal masking mandate, parents showed up with their own opinions on whether the district should implement one.The parents were split into two groups: Those who want a universal mask mandate, and those vehemently opposed to one.Sarah Diefenderfer of Cranberry, who said she is a registered nurse, advocated for masking. She asked why the board, when faced with almost universal recommendation for masking from public health agencies, chose to make it optional in their proposed plan.“This is not about politics,” Diefenderfer said. “This is about following the guidelines given to you by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the Department of Health, the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics, and doing what's right for our kids.”On the anti-mask side, several parents claimed citing vague “studies” that masks increase carbon dioxide levels to a dangerous amount and advocated for parent choice in masking. One such parent, Sarah Cardosi of Cranberry, argued the use of masks and what she said is the negative effects of them is antithetical to the school's educational mission.“What you're doing right now, in trying to keep COVID out of the classroom, you're also keeping education out of the classroom,” she said. “No matter what you're doing, trying to prevent the student from inhaling, if they're wearing a mask, the social and mental anguish that they're experiencing from having their breathing restricted trumps many other things.”Despite the barrage of comments, the current plan contains no universal face-covering requirement.