Methacton School District

November 11, 2020

Dear Methacton Families,

I want to thank every member of the Methacton Community for being incredibly supportive of our students, families, and staff during these first several months of school.

The Methacton School District adopted the PA Department of Education recommendations for instructional delivery during the pandemic. The PDE recommendations reference the level of community transmission based on two statistics; incidence rate per 100,000 residents and the percent positivity.

Earlier this week, I participated in several meetings with the PA Department of Education (PDE), the PA Department of Health (DoH), other Montgomery County superintendents, physicians from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit, and the Montgomery County Department of Health. The purpose of the meetings was to determine what and when to take mitigation actions in response to the rising COVID rates being documented in Montgomery County.

For the week ending 11/5/2020, Montgomery County had a positivity rate of 5.2% and an incidence rate of 106.9. Methacton’s two townships combined are trending higher with an 8.2% positivity rate and 114 incidence rate. Both the county and district-specific data place us in the substantial transmission level on the PDE chart.

As per our Health and Safety plan, I am issuing this notice to families that I will be convening a meeting of the district’s pandemic team on Thursday, November 12, 2020, to review the data and recommendations provided by PDE and CHOP. I am further anticipating guidance from the Montgomery County Department of Health as soon as tomorrow.

I will provide communication to families as far in advance as possible if there is to be a change in the instructional delivery options available to students.

Sincerely,

Dr. David Zerbe

Superintendent of Schools