Dear Wilson Community,

We are more than half way through what has been perhaps the most interesting and challenging school year I have ever experienced during my time in education!  But with every challenge, we have seen so many silver linings.  We’ve witnessed our students’ resilience, our teachers’ creativity and our staff’s dedication.

Now that we have passed the mid-year mark, we want to share with you that we continue to closely follow the guidance that is being provided by the Federal government related to the Covid-19 pandemic.  The media has been spending a great deal of time reporting on the changes happening in States across our country as it relates to education and getting students back to school.

On a personal level, I am so proud that since the start of the school year in August, our students have had the option to experience in-person learning.  Our elementary students have been back in the classroom 5 days a week and our secondary students have been in person 2 days a week with little interruption.  We have been able to do this because of our staff and students’ adherence to our District’s Health and Safety plan.

Recently, we have been getting many questions about our plans to return our secondary students to the classroom for more in-person learning.  Because there have been no changes to the mandates from the Pennsylvania Department of Health and Pennsylvania Department of Education, we need to continue to follow and enforce our current Health and Safety Plan.  This plan clearly requires us to maintain a safe 6 feet of physical distancing in our classrooms, which presents challenges in increasing the number of students we have in our secondary buildings.

However, we want you to know that our team has been working diligently to review and recommend possible scenarios to allow our secondary students to have more opportunities for in-person learning.  Any of those options must continue to enforce our Health and Safety Plan requirements of 6 feet of physical distancing, mandatory mask wearing, and on-going sanitization efforts.  We must continue to be vigilant in enforcing the safety requirements, which have been established by the State agencies.

As we investigate various options, we will continue to keep you informed of our progress.  We are appreciative of our community’s patience and understanding, but most importantly, the support we have received.

I am proud to serve as the Superintendent of the Wilson School District and look forward to the time where we can all get back to normal.

Respectfully,

Dr. Richard H. Faidley, Superintendent