School Guidance

**Guidance and Recommendations will be updated on Mondays by 12:00pm.**

Updated 11/23/2020

Montgomery County School COVID-19 Risk reduction and Mitigation Order

Signed Order - November 13, 2020

Assessment for Move to Virtual Education during COVID-19 Pandemic  

The Montgomery County Office of Public Health (OPH) will assess the need for public and private schools to move to a virtual learning model based on the following criteria:

  • Linked Transmission in School

or

  • Two-week trend by school district municipalities of :
  • Incident rate for the school district 80-100 per 100,000

  and/or

  • Positivity 6-8%

or

  • Functional Closure

Based on the above criteria, OPH and the school district or public and private school administration will discuss the need to move virtual learning. 

Montgomery County School Reopening Guidance (7/18/2020) for Pre-K to 12: As Montgomery County Pre-K to 12 schools start to plan for the upcoming 2020-21 school year while dealing with the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, Montgomery County Office of Public Health (OPH) in collaboration with Montgomery County Superintendents has developed general recommendations to support the prevention of disease transmission in the school environment. Montgomery County guidance should be utilized to support the development of the Health and Safety Plan for reopening as required by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

COVID-19 School Exclusion Guide: This provides schools with exclusion and return to school guidelines developed by the Montgomery County Office of Public Health. 

At this time, Montgomery County Office of Public Health recommends household contacts to COVID-19 cases are excluded from work and school settings for 24 days from the onset of symptoms (date of the test if asymptomatic) of the COVID-19 positive person.

COVID-19 Isolation vs. Quarantine

Pennsylvania Department of Education, Determining Instructional Models: In response to school leaders' need for additional guidance as to the risk of COVID-19 transmission in their communities, the Pennsylvania Departments of Health and Education are providing recommendations to Pre-K to 12 schools for use when making decisions related to the instructional models used during the 2020-21 school year.

Pennsylvania Department of Education, Response following the identification of a case(s) of COVID 19: To address school leaders’ need for additional guidance in responding to COVID-19 cases in a school setting, the Pennsylvania Departments of Health (DOH) and Education (PDE) are providing recommendations to Pre-K to 12 schools for use in consultation with public health staff when making decisions related to school procedures following a case of COVID-19 in a school.

Universal Face Coverings Order: Under what circumstances are students permitted to remove their face coverings (e.g. masks and face shields)? 

Schools may allow students to remove face coverings when students are: 

  • Eating or drinking when spaced at least 6 feet apart; or
  • When wearing a face-covering creates an unsafe condition in which to operate equipment or execute a task; or
  • At least 6 feet apart during “face-covering breaks” to last no longer than 10 minutDone Editinges.

Sports Guidance for Schools

In response to the guidance provided by PIAA, Montgomery County developed additional Sports Guidance to support the prevention of disease transmission related to sports. 

Reporting

To report a positive case of COVID-19 in the school setting or questions for the OPH, please contact OPH at
610-278-6211 or MCSchoolsCOVID19@montcopa.org..

Pennsylvania Department of Health- Health Advisory Network Notifications