Virtual Learning To Continue at Warwick High School

301 West Orange Street
Lititz, PA 17543-1898
Telephone: 717.626.3734
Fax: 717.626.3850
www.warwicksd.org
Dr. April M. Hershey, Superintendent

Dr. Melanie Calender, Assistant Superintendent
November 9th, 2020
Dear Warwick families,
With the health and safety of our students, staff and community members being of utmost
importance, we are reaching out to share with you that we have been recently made aware of
two more positive cases at Warwick High School and a positive case at Lititz Elementary
School. We have consulted with the Pennsylvania Department of Health regarding next steps.
Those individuals who are determined to be close contacts are being notified and are required
to quarantine at home and away from others for 14 calendar days and may not attend school,
school activities or utilize transportation during this time.
Our current active cases are as follows:

● 14 active cases at WHS, three of which had no close contact quarantining, with two
expiring this week
● 1 active case the WMS
● 2 active cases at JB Elementary, with one expiring this week
● 1 active case at LE
Because of these additional cases, and because we now have significant numbers of students
and staff members on quarantine, Warwick High School will remain in the red/substantial
spread phase for at least the rest of this week through Friday, November 13th, 2020.
High school extra curricular activities both in and out of season may not practice or
participate in contests during the closure. All four elementary schools and Warwick Middle
School will continue with face to face learning unless circumstances change.
On Monday, November 16th, 9 cases will expire, with 7 of those being at Warwick High School.
We will continue to monitor new cases this week to determine if it will be safe to return to face to
face instruction on Monday, November 16th, at Warwick High School.
This morning, we participated in a conference call with the Departments of Health and
Education. The rate of spread is increasing significantly in our county and local community. We
will continue to keep you updated as the situation dictates.
We have received several questions regarding our decision making as it relates to shifting to
virtual learning and how that relates to extracurricular activities. It is disheartening,
disappointing and frustrating to see accusations of favoritism toward certain activities and
events over others, as well as accusations about the timing of our closures. Let me be clear:
each and every decision we make is done to protect student and staff health and safety
first, and each decision is made based on the facts of that particular case. Because of
privacy laws, details about an individual’s health status cannot be shared. We have and will
continue to be as transparent as we possibly can. It’s easy to make ungrounded assessments
and snap judgements when you do not have all the information. Just today, we learned of a
positive case that would have affected many individuals in our Warwick family and beyond had
we not intervened last week and taken the necessary precautions.
We have heard loudly and clearly from our families that you want our students to be in
school whenever it is safe to be here. It is for this reason that we have taken a very
conservative approach to shifting to virtual learning, with two or three day closures at a
time with the hopes of returning to face to face as soon as it is safe to do so. With
today’s additional cases and quarantines, we must now extend the shift to virtual learning at
WHS for at least the remainder of the week.
In our communication last Friday, we explained what goes into our decision making process.
We have added that information again for clarification below.
Many of you have asked what the ‘magic number’ is for closing schools. As we have
shared in the past, there are no hard and fast rules for this. While we do have guidance
from the CDC and the Pennsylvania Departments of Health and Education, we evaluate
each and every case, the number of close contacts requiring quarantine, the contact
information and whether or not spread is happening in the schools, the number of cases
in the school and the district, and the timing of the cases. While not an exact science,
we use the same metrics as we make decisions about what is safe for our students and
families with the idea that keeping our students in school for learning is the best case
scenario. Our responsibility is to identify contacts of students and staff members who
have tested positive. It is the responsibility of the Department of Health to trace contacts
outside of school.
None of these decisions are ‘knee-jerk’ or taken lightly, in fact, they are just as
heartbreaking for us as they are for students and families. Additionally, please
understand that we are unable to share specific health information about individuals (i.e.
if they are a student or staff member, if they are on a specific athletic team, or
extracurriculars, etc.). While it may be easy to assume that our decision making does
not consider the ramifications of our decisions related to student’s education or
extracurricular activities, please know that nothing could be further from the truth. We
have spent hours working on these cases, considering all guidance, laws and mandates
from a variety of outside agencies, and working toward any possible solution to keep
students involved. We thank you for your understanding.
Thank you for dispelling rumors and inaccurate information. We appreciate your support.
Our teachers and staff members are working tirelessly to provide safe and meaningful
educational experiences for every student throughout this crisis. Their commitment has never
been more clear. We are deeply grateful for their hard work and dedication to their students and
their craft. Please join us in sharing our appreciation for all they continue to do.
Finally, I would like to take a moment to thank our leadership team, all of whom have been
working 24/7 since March 13th during evenings, weekends, holidays and even while on vacation
days to address every case, concern, complaint or question during this time of crisis. They have
done this with absolute grace, respect, and professionalism. Their tireless efforts have afforded
us an entire marking period in school. We owe them our respect and gratitude.
Please stay safe and healthy. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Dr. April M. Hershey ahershey@warwicksd.org, Superintendent
Dr. Melanie M. Calender mcalender@warwicksd.org, Assistant Superintendent

Dr. Ryan J. Axe raxe@warwicksd.org, Director of Secondary Education
Mr. Nathan R. Wertsch nwertsch@warwicksd.org, Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Mark Leidich mleidich@warwicksd.org, Director of Human Resources
Dr. Ron Hallett rhallett@warwicksd.org., Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment
Mr. Fred Griffiths fgriffiths@warwicksd.org, Director of Technology
Mr. Jeff Weber jweber@warwicksd.org, Director of Buildings and Grounds
Mrs. Michelle Dombach mdombach@warwicksd.org, Director of Food and Nutrition Services
Mr. Ryan Landis rlandis@warwicksd.org, Director of Athletics
Dr. Kristy Szobocsan kszobocsan@warwicksd.org, Warwick High School Principal
Mr. Sid Harrison sharrison@warwicksd.org, Warwick High School Assistant Principal
Dr. Scott Kyper skyper@warwicksd.org, Warwick High School Assistant Principal:
Dr. Steve Szobocsan sszobocsan@warwicksd.org, Warwick Middle School Principal
Dr. Michelle Harris mharris@warwicksd.org, Warwick Middle School Assistant Principal
Ms. Lisa Bonfield lbonfield@warwicksd.org, John Beck Elementary School
Mrs. Amy Balsbaugh abalsbaugh@warwicksd.org, John R. Bonfield Elementary School
Dr. Ryan Berardi rberardi@warwicksd.org, Kissel Hill Elementary School
Dr. Jennifer Murphy jmurphy@warwicksd.org, Lititz Elementary School

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301 West Orange Street

Dr. April M. Hershey, Superintendent

November 9th, 2020

Dear Warwick families,

Our current active cases are as follows:

Please stay safe and healthy. Thank you.

Dr. April M. Hershey ahershey@warwicksd.org, Superintendent

Dr. Melanie M. Calender mcalender@warwicksd.org, Assistant Superintendent

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