The School District of Philadelphia has announced updates to their Plan for Safe Return to In-Person Learning on August 31st. All students, staff and visitors, regardless of their COVID vaccination status, will be required to wear masks indoors, according to the revised plan, which follows newly revised guidelines from the Philadelphia Department of Public Health (PDPH) on Philadelphia Schools.

The School District will also have the following safety measures in place when the new academic year kicks off on Aug. 31: Continue Reading

Weekly transpasses are being replaced by fare cards for Philadelphia public school students, the School District of Philadelphia and SEPTA have announced. About 65,000 eligible students in Philadelphia will receive a SEPTA Student Fare Card – a contact-free, reusable chip card that students can use to get to and from school during the 2021-2022 school year.

Here’s how the card will work for students:

Students can use the fare card up to eight times per day between the hours of 5:30 a.m. and 8 p.m. on any bus, trolley or subway on school days. If a student needs to use regional rail, they can upgrade their student fare card at designated SEPTA stations for about $10 per 5-day school week. Continue Reading

The School District of Philadelphia has announced Phase III, the final phase of the Hybrid Learning Plan for the 2020-2021 school year, which provides an opportunity for in-person learning to students in grades six to nine and students with complex needs in grades 10-12. All other students in grades 10-12 will remain in 100 percent digital learning for the remainder of the school year.

Between Tuesday, April 20 and Tuesday, April 27, families of students in these groups can choose to participate in the hybrid model – two days of in-person learning and three days of digital learning – beginning the week of May 10. Phase III families will receive an email with instruction on how to sign up. Continue Reading

The School District of Philadelphia has launched an online dashboard that tracks confirmed positive COVID-19 cases in schools. The dashboard includes information on the number of tests performed and positive cases in schools, as well as cases confirmed off-site that have been reported to the District.

Dashboard users can track COVID-19 cases overall in the District and individually per school.

Initial dashboard data shows a very low COVID positivity rate in the District. So far, there have been 64 confirmed COVID-19 cases in District schools, with less than 1 percent of students and staff testing positive for the virus each week over the last four weeks through April 3. Continue Reading

Today, the School District of Philadelphia has announced its plans to welcome back students in grades 3-5 and students with complex needs in grades 6-8 in school buildings (Phase 2 of its Hybrid Learning Plan), and the beginning of the application process for families.

Beginning Tuesday, April 6, families can complete the Phase 2 Learning Model Selection Survey, where they can choose to have their children participate in hybrid learning. Families will have to make this selection until Tuesday, April 13. Phase 2 hybrid learning students would attend school in-person two days per week and engage in digital learning three days each week, beginning the week of Monday, April 26. Continue Reading

The School District of Philadelphia has announced that 22 additional schools will re-open for in-person next month. Students in grades preK-2 whose families have chosen the hybrid learning model, can return to the following schools beginning April 5:

Add B. Anderson School

William C. Bryant School

Laura H. Carnell School

Watson Comly School

Lewis Elkin School Continue Reading