HARRISBURG (Newsradio 1020 KDKA) - All schools around Pennsylvania will remain closed through the rest of the year.
Schools were previously closed indefinitely until the 2020-21 school year.
"We must continue our efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus during this national crisis," Governor Tom Wolf said in a release. "This was not an easy decision but closing schools until the end of the academic year is in the best interest of our students, school employees and families."
The order was signed Governor Wolf's Education Secretary Pedro Rivera Thursday morning.
"While the rapidly evolving COVID-19 pandemic and its mitigation efforts have created uncertainty in our schools and communities, today's action to close schools for the remainder of the academic year provides school communities with predictability and understanding of the conditions under which they'll be operating and serving students," Rivera said. "As schools and communities adapt to the prolonged school closure, PDE will continue to work with our state, educational, and business and nonprofit partners to meet the needs of students."
Schools will continue to instruct students via remote learning.
The Department of Education says they have "secured resources" to help any school that wants to use them
That includes all public and private schools in the commonwealth.
That means all public schools, brick and mortar and cyber charter schools, private and parochial schools along with career and technical centers and intermediate units will remain closed.
All Department of Education early learning program classrooms, including those for Pre-K Counts, Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program (HSSAP) and Preschool Early Intervention, will also remain closed.
The move affects over 1.7 million students.
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