(Story by Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Curtis Walsh)

(Chippewa Township, PA) The Blackhawk School District held a special meeting tonight to discuss their health and safety plan for the upcoming school year.  Superintendent Dr. Robert Postupac led the 3 hour meeting and started off by saying that Blackhawk intends to open the 2021-2022 school year with five full days of in person instruction at 100% capacity.  The district will follow CDC guidelines to an extent if there would happen to be substantial transmission of the virus among the district including the possibility of required masks for students and staff.  Students will only be allowed to participate in virtual learning if they are sick.  Dr. Postupac stated that the district will go against FAA regulations which require students to wear masks on buses, saying that neither the district or the bus company will enforce the rule.  Students that are symptomatic will be required to get tested before returning to school.  Coach Zach Heyward stated that as of the moment, there has been no guidance on any mandates relating to sports.  Members of the public were divided into groups to give their ideas on assigned relative topics.  One group suggested that masks should not be reintroduced unless 10%, roughly 80 people, are confirmed positive in the high school, and for self contained classrooms, such as in the elementary school, 20%, approximately 4 people.  A group that was assigned the topic of hand washing, quickly answered that they do in fact believe hand washing and sanitization efforts should continue.  Dr. Postupac repeated one phrase frequently throughout the night, which was “This is where we are today”.