4 guidelines for every classroom: How Pa. schools plan to keep kids safe

Sen. Jim Brewster, who serves part of Allegheny and Westmoreland counties, suggested that schools should have their own COVID-19 testing.

“The minute we find out a staff member or teacher or student has tested positive than we can immediately enter into quarantine process as opposed waiting a week or two for test results to come back under the current process,”Brewster said.

But funding that testing at schools may be very difficult.

A regional school board president testified that kids should be screened at school, not just at home by their parents; but some parents disagree.

School districts like Pine Richland are asking parents to check their children’s health and temperature before school.

Rich Askey, president of PSEA, testified that a lot of his members are concerned over the lack of inconsistent policies for when a student or staff member shows COVID-19 symptom during the school day.

“Members need to know there is a standard safety protocol for when this happens in every school -- sending them to the school nurse who may or may not have PPE or who may other students with other health issues present is just not a good practice,” Askey said.

During the hearing, Arthur Streinberg, the Pennsylvania president of the American Federation of Teachers, said a detailed plan on how to handle a positive case is needed in order to reopen schools safely for in-person learning.

“But because of the utter lack of response of federal government our members are not afraid and angry many are quitting retiring or even writing their wells,” Streinberg said.