Superintendent acts in response to Gov. Tom Wolf’s latest order over the coronavirus.

The new order from Harrisburg that closes businesses and operations that are not life-critical has the leaders of Erie County’s school district’s trying to determine when schools will reopen, if ever, this academic year.

The Erie School District on Friday closed indefinitely due to the order and the crisis over the coronavirus, and Erie County’s other school districts are deciding what to do next.

"We are waiting for further clarity of a possible extension of the status of the school closure," the superintendents for Erie County school districts said in a joint statement early Friday afternoon.

The statement, issued through the Northwest Tri-County Intermediate Unit, also covers school districts in Warren and Crawford counties.

The superintendents issued the statement hours after the Erie School District, the largest in the region with 11,000 students, announced that it is closing its schools indefinitely.

Gov. Tom Wolf a week ago ordered all schools closed statewide for two weeks, until March 30, to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 strain of the coronavirus.

But plans to reopen the schools on March 30 were confused on Thursday when Wolf issued a new directive that closed, until further notice, all businesses and other institutions that are not "life-critical" or "life-sustaining." Schools are not listed as exceptions.

Thursday’s order, if it stays in effect after after March 30, means that all schools likely would have to remain closed. The situation should become clearer once the state provides more information, the Erie County superintendents said in their statement, which Polito also signed.

"We will continue to follow the governmental directives until they are lifted," another signer, the co-acting superintendent of the Millcreek Township School District, Darcie Moseley, said in an interview.

Erie schools Superintendent Brian Polito said he indefinitely closed schools in the 11,000-student district based on Wolf’s latest order.

Polito said the order prohibits all but essential staff in schools. He said those staff have tasks they can perform only on site, such as food preparation for free meals that the district continues to distribute during the indefinite shutdown. Families pick up the meals outside the schools.

The Erie School District also plans to provide online learning while schools are closed, but Polito said Wolf’s order also means that the district, for now, cannot distribute Chromebook laptops at the schools for students who do not have computers at home. He said the district has also suspended the distribution of paper lessons to students who have no internet access at home.

The district had planned to distribute the Chromebooks and paper lessons at the schools. The prohibition of all but essential staff in the schools bars the district from passing out the materials at the schools, Polito said.

The Erie School District is waiting on guidance from the state Department of Education, or PDE, on when the district can distribute the Chromebooks and other materials, Polito said.

"We are in a holding pattern," he said.

Polito said the Erie School District will still offer online classes starting Monday, though that instruction must be optional for now due to federal regulations concerning special education.

"As of right now, we are offering online educational opportunities," Polito said. "We anticipate additional guidance from PDE in the near future and will adjust our offerings accordingly."

The other Erie County school districts said they also continue to develop "continuity of education" plans to teach students for however long the schools are closed. The districts said they are waiting on state guidance and possible legislation to help develop their plans.

As long as the schools are closed, distribution of free meals will continue at the school districts that are offering them, the superintendents said.

"Food service has been deemed essential and will continue to be provided for each school community," the superintendents said in their statement.

The statement continues: "Parents are encouraged to closely monitor their school’s website to learn more about how each individual district will be providing 'continuity of education.’ These plans will vary from district to district.

"Parents are asked to continue to engage their child in learning activities as best they can at home.

"Provide structure for each day, be certain there is time for physical activity, reading and writing as well as keeping up with current events. Ask children to participate in the preparation of meals, daily household chores and have them continue to be social online."

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNpalattella.

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