Get our newsletters

State secretary of education visits Palisades

District commended for actions during pandemic

Posted

Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) Secretary Dr. Noe Ortega and Executive Deputy Secretary Dr. Deb Carrera joined Palisades School District educators and community partners to discuss the importance of getting the COVID-19 vaccine prior to the start of the new school year.
PDE also helped welcome new teachers to the district in Bucks County and toured their classrooms.
“As communities across the commonwealth prepare for a new school year, we must work together to create healthy and safe conditions for our students, teachers, and staff now and in the future,” Ortega.
“We commend the Palisades School District and their community partners for their efforts to offer eligible school children and families the COVID-19 vaccine this summer before the new school year begins.”

Palisades Middle School held a vaccination clinic for students, staff, and community members in July and a second dose clinic later in August.
“I value the support that the Palisades School District has received throughout this pandemic from our local school community including parents, students, teachers, staff, administrators and school board, as well as the resources and guidance provided by our county, state and federal partners. During the 20-21 school year, all Palisades’ buildings remained open for face-to-face learning, five days a week, and we also provided a quality online learning option. We enjoyed so many outstanding academic, athletic, and extracurricular achievements by our students last year which demonstrates the true strength and resiliency of this community and the power of partnerships,” said Palisades District Superintendent Bridget O’Connell.
“I would like to thank our county, state and federal partners in education for providing the resources necessary for Palisades to deliver an excellent education to our students that promotes their safety and well-being. Those resources include funding to support both the hiring of additional staff to support our cyberlearning option and additional learning opportunities for students, funding to support facilities upgrades, as well as the county and state support to run vaccine clinics in our schoolbuildings. Today marks our fourth in-school vaccine clinic. We are so pleased to host this visit today so that we may share our story as we look forward to our students returning to classrooms in ten days for another great year.”
On Monday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health directed vaccine providers to support COVID19 vaccination clinics at K-12 schools and institutions of higher education. Additionally, the epartments of Health and Education are partnering with Concentric by Ginkgo Bioworks (Ginkgo) to provide free COVID-19 testing in K-12 schools across the commonwealth to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and outbreaks in schools during the 2021-2022 school year.


Join our readers whose generous donations are making it possible for you to read our news coverage. Help keep local journalism alive and our community strong. Donate today.


X