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Delaware County School Districts Weighing Major Adjustments To Reopening Plans As New School Year Looms

HAVERTOWN, Pa. (CBS) -- Surrounding counties are now facing the same decision Philadelphia did. Should schools go all virtual, in-person, or some of both?

The decisions are all over the map. For Haverford, they are plowing through with a hybrid model that is still going to have a mix of in-class and virtual learning.

In Upper Darby Township, the superintendent says just like grocery stores and public transportation, he believes education in the classroom is essential.

But following Philadelphia's lead, and with what is happening with MLB, some of these districts are finding that they might have to start pumping the brakes on the hybrid model and have emergency meetings to figure out where to go next.

Superintendent Explains Why Philadelphia School District Scrapped Plans For Hybrid School Year

It should come as no surprise a number of Delaware Valley school districts are now hesitating on plans to do any in-person learning as the school year kicks off in just a matter of weeks.

Parents were asked if students should head back to the classroom.

"I don't really know. I wish there was better leadership to tell us what the right things are to do," Jennifer Shields, a parent, said.

One parent said, "absolutely not," while another said her two children will be headed back to their college campus.

With Philadelphia schools delaying any classroom attendance to at least November, outlying districts are considering major edits to plans conceived weeks, even months ago.

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"None of us are public health experts. We're trying to do the best we can to keep our kids and our employees safe. There's no good answers here," Haverford Township School Board President Lawrence Feinberg said.

School leaders speaking with Eyewitness News say all bets are off, that there isn't any one silver bullet to solve the problem confronted by 500 school districts in Pennsylvania.

And some parents, doing some back to school shopping, agree entirely.

"My sense is that they probably shouldn't, but since no one's willing to make that general decision, even if it's just for a short period of time, that they're probably going to go back and it's going to be patchwork," Shields said.

"We still haven't shut this thing down. Look at what other countries have been able to do, where they actually paid attention to the masking and social distancing. And here we are several months into it and we're just going round and round," Feinberg said.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia, which oversees scores of schools, rolled out plans on Monday. Students will head back to the classroom. Parents will be encouraged to take temperatures, while social distancing, hand sanitizing and masks are mandatory. Students may remove facial coverings once at their desks.

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