Morrisville School District Superintendent Jason Harris said in a post Sunday evening, a full return to school is expected and the school board will be discussing and finalizing a draft health plan at Wednesday’s school board meeting.

Harris’ full post is below as it was written. 

Hello Morrisville Families,

I am writing today to help everyone better understand our Return to School Approach for the 2021-2022 school year.  If you recall this time last year, we were talking about fully virtual school until February 2021.  That is NOT the case this year!

We are planning for a full return to school for Grades 1-12 on Wednesday, September 1 with full schedules, and full classrooms.  Kindergarten parents will be notified separately regarding orientation dates/schedules.  This approach has been the overwhelming desire of the community, the Board, as well as the staff and faculty.  Our team has planned, revised, scrapped, and rewritten many plans since our closure in March 2020. We are moving into this school year with better data and deeper understandings of what must be done to keep students in school full time.

Attached, you will find the DRAFT revisions to our Health and Safety Plan.  Originally approved in June, it was consistent with CDC guidance for mitigations which included masking when viral transmission was in the High or Substantial range.  In June, we were in Moderate transmission range, and the Board made masks optional for the summer.  As a result of an uptick in the case counts county-wide, we moved to a mask-mandatory policy at the beginning of August.

As of this week, the Bucks County Department of Health issued a recommendation (consistent with the CDC) regarding masking for anyone in a K-12 setting.  They have also released an FAQ document, that can be found here.  This guidance is reflected in our DRAFT revision.  The Pandemic Planning Team is meeting to discuss the DRAFT and may make modifications.  The proposed changes/updates to this plan will be considered by the Board on Wednesday, August 25. I invite you to view the DRAFT plan below.

DRAFT Health and Safety Plan

I also invite you to attend the School Board meeting to hear the Board deliberate regarding the plan. There will be an opportunity for public comment, and I encourage you to attend and participate in the democratic process.

A few reminders:

Currently, masks are required in our buildings, and we fully intend to move ahead with a full in-person instructional model, 5 days per week, with a full-day schedule.

The first day of school for all students will be Wednesday, September 1, 2021.  Please make sure all students attend, as technology distribution will take place in the buildings.  Additional information will be distributed by our building principals.

State Testing for grades 4-12 will commence in September. As you may recall, the District opted to delay the 2020 PSSA/Keystone testing to accommodate more in-person learning.  Your building principal will provide additional details regarding scheduling in their welcome letters.

Powerschool:  The District is moving from Genesis to Powerschool as its Student Information System.  Stay tuned for an email with parent and student login information.

The School Board Action Meeting will be held in-person on Wednesday, August 25, at 7:30 pm in the LGI.