For Ellie Jarrett, 8th grader at Huston Middle School, playing hockey is life. She’s been on the ice since she was two years old and suited up for her first game around five years old.

The 2020-2021 school year has been challenging for everyone, including students, parents, and teachers.

“The most challenging part of the year for me has been trying to focus when I go virtual for the day,” said John Lindgren, senior at Burrell High School. “It's just very difficult to go to class after class while sitting in the same spot all day.”

Burrell School District hasn’t changed much from its original Health and Safety Plan at the beginning of the year and that’s because it’s working.

“The mitigation efforts that we put into place are serving us very well,” said Angela Dastolfo, RN, BSN, NCSN, MS, Coordinator of Health Services.

Burrell School District takes art education seriously, and it shows. The district has recently been named as an Outstanding Visual Arts Community by the Pennsylvania Art Education Association (PAEA). Only 27 districts across the state received this prestigious recognition.

Change is the name of the game at Burrell this year, but not only because of the pandemic. The district has also added two new teachers, Elizabeth Hartman and Alli Oberdorf, to the roster.

This year, Burrell School District has a new resource officer on campus — patrolman Robert Acquaviva from the Lower Burrell Police Department.

Acquaviva is filling the role vacated by John Marhefka, who left last year to become the chief of police for Lower Burrell.

Burrell School District’s 2020-2021 Health and Safety Plan is requiring teachers to offer lessons both in the classroom and virtually, and many teachers, like Mr. Bryan Mike, have spent the summer getting ready.

Mr. Mike, a biology teacher who is celebrating his 25th year with the district, calls this upcoming year “very different.”

“In other years, I had a pretty good idea what I was going to do,” said Mr. Mike. “My preparations were just to get my room ready. This year, I have had to create different documents, change documents to fit the virtual model, and will have to prepare my Google Classrooms (I have 6 classes, so 6 Classrooms).”

After much discussion and planning, Burrell School District has created a Health and Safety Plan for the upcoming 2020-2021 year.

The plan consists of three options families and students can choose from before the school year begins.