CHRIS MORELLI cmorelli@lockhaven.com
MILL HALL More than 200 staff members at the Keystone Central School District will have access to the COVID-19 vaccine very soon.
KCSD superintendent Jacquelyn Martin announced during Thursday night’s school board work session that up to 228 KCSD staff members will have access to vaccines starting on Wednesday, March 10.
“Pennsylvania has created an opportunity for school staff to be prioritized in the vaccination process,” Martin explained. “Our staff members and our bus drivers … are still eligible under this plan. All of them have been asked to complete the survey to determine who would like to be vaccinated through this process.”
CHRIS MORELLI cmorelli@lockhaven.com
BELLEFONTE In spite of COVID-19, school closures and snow days, the Bellefonte READS program continues to grow. At Tuesday night’s Bellefonte school board meeting, interim superintendent Tammie Burnaford highlighted the success of the reading program.
“We did Bellefonte READS the week before we shut down (in 2020),” Burnaford reminded the board.
According to Burnaford, the Pennsylvania State Education Association came to the school last year to do a story about the program. However, due to the closure, the story was never finished.
“PSEA came last year, interviewed Jackie Wynkoop and Nicole Kohlhepp for Bellefonte READS … they came and they interviewed and they did all kinds of cool stuff. Then we shut down, so they never got the story written,” Burnaford said.
MILL HALL For students at Bucktail High School and Central Mountan Middle School, there is good news on the horizon. They’re heading back to in-person c
CHRIS MORELLI cmorelli@lockhaven.com
MILL HALL Elementary school students in the Keystone Central School District will be returning to classrooms next week.
KCSD superintendent Jacquelyn Martin announced in a news release that elementary students would return to classrooms starting Monday, Jan. 25.
“Earlier this month we learned of a new recommendation from the PA DOH and PDE regarding elementary students and their return to in-person instruction as soon as possible. Based on my conversations with Dr. Elizabeth McGraw, Penn State University Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, I believe that our elementary staff and students can safely return next week even though our community spread remains in the substantial range,” Martin said in the release. “Our administrators have been working on plans to have our elementary students return to school five days per week while meeting the mandated safety requirements of six feet of distance at any time when a child
pcrossley@sungazette.com
The Williamsport Area School District is expected to receive almost $9 million as part of the $2.2 billion in federal stimulus funds being dedicated by the Wolf administration to help K-12 school districts and charter schools statewide provide much needed financial support during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Local districts and the amount of funds available are: Canton, $1,258,598; East Lycoming, $1,140,294; Jersey Shore Area, $1,871,138; Keystone Central, $5,316,886; Loyalsock Township, $945,113; Montgomery Area, $1,188,107; Montoursville Area, $1,057,830; Muncy, $872,147; South Williamsport Area, $1,278,274; Southern Tioga, $2,432,725; Warrior Run, $1,749,015; Wellsboro, $1,893,360; and Williamsport, $8,949,801.
Speaking during a media call, Noe Ortega, acting secretary of the state’s Department of Education said that all funds will be given directly to the school districts using the Title I, Part-A formula, which bases distribution on the percentage of st