Pottsville Posts Social Distancing Rules for School Board Meeting

Pottsville Area School District posted social distancing rules and guidelines on Tuesday afternoon for its special school board meeting this evening.

Even if this news is only good for an hour or so, it gives a little glimpse into what school might look like in the near future … at least for a while.

Pottsville School Board Meeting Social Distancing Rules

The school district posted these rules because they obviously expect a full house for Tuesday’s hastily called Special Meeting.

It’s expected that the board will deliver a statement on the fate of Pottsville Area School District Superintendent Jeffrey Zwiebel at tonight’s meeting. Board president Bud Quandel told local media last week that he would deliver a public statement on that issue by the end of the week.

But instead, we learned that the board called together this Special Meeting tonight.

Meetings livestreamed and held via the Zoom video conference app during the COVID-19 pandemic have drawn hundreds of viewers watching live. That could be an issue tonight as the school hasn’t announced whether tonight’s session will be streamed live.

The school district is limiting attendance to just 228 members of the public. Instead of holding meetings at the district’s administration building, tonight’s meeting is at DHH Lengel Middle School auditorium. The “green phase” capacity for that auditorium is 250 and the school is allowing 22 spots for board members and other staff.

Doors at the middle school open at 6:15 p.m.

The school asks that social distancing measures be followed through the night, including while waiting to get into the meeting space. Members of the public should enter through the cafeteria entrance. Face masks are required, the school says.

Once inside the auditorium, the school taped off two seats between every seat. They’ve marked and numbered seats inside, as you can see in the handout below, where the public can sit.