The Solanco school board is facing pressure from a group of residents who want their children to have a choice whether they want to wear a face mask in school.
About 60 Southern Lancaster County residents on Monday evening lined the road leading up to Smith Middle School with signs that read âLet them breathe, âMy kids, my choice and âNo more masks to protest the requirement that all students 2 years and older wear a face mask in school except when eating while socially distanced and during mask breaks.
Currently in Pennsylvania counties with substantial community transmission of COVID-19, school districts that offer in-person instruction must submit an attestation form promising they will implement and enforce the universal mask mandate from the state Department of Health.
What happened: Superintendent Brian Bliss introduced the idea of redesigning the district website.
Background: Goals for revising the website include improving accessibility, streamlining, optimizing the site for users of various devices, enhancing search tools, improving visual appeal and aligning the site to social media efforts.
Why itâs important: The new website will be designed to demonstrate the districtâs mission, and clarify programs and initiatives.
What happens next: Bliss proposed to hire a firm that specializes in website building rather than to do it in-house. Regular updates will be done by the district. Completion of the site is expected sometime next school year.
Facing intense budgetary pressure from the coronavirus pandemic and years of being severely underfunded, a handful of Lancaster County schools received a semblance of hope Wednesday as Gov. Tom Wolf proposed what some school officials say is a long-overdue shakeup of education funding in Pennsylvania.
The democratic governorâs 2021-22 budget proposal, which some Republicans say is dead on arrival, builds on previous education funding increases by calling for a historic, $1.35 billion, or 21.6%, increase in basic education funding. Wolf is also asking for all basic education funding to flow through the stateâs Fair Funding Formula that presently is used for new money only. That translates to a $59.5 million, or 32%, boost for Lancaster County schools.