YORKTOWN — The York County School Division (YCSD) School Board met for its monthly meeting on Monday night, Sept. 27, in front of a socially distanced board room in York Hall.
For the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the board was able to recognize students, faculty and staff for exceptional performance in-person during the meeting.
The school board presented a Senior of the Month award to a student from each of the YCSD high schools, as well as two Student Service Awards and a Community Volunteer of the Month.
YPSO and Sodexo, the hospitality contractor YPSO uses to provide food services, also honored culinary workers from schools around the county with Leadership Awards.
At the conclusion of the Awards and Recognition part of the agenda, the board proceeded with the business of the day.
In his operational update, YPSO Chief Operations Officer Dr. James Carroll briefed the latest COVID-19 cases, quarantines and vaccine rates, pulling from the YPSO COVID-19 dashboard. Carroll noted that vaccination numbers for York County residents 18-years and older have improved over the last month to 70.7 percent.
Carroll went on to address the bus driver shortage. Last week YPSO sent an email to students’ families warning that bus delays are likely to continue until the division is able to hire more drivers.
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To add on to the transportation department’s woes, eight out of ten of the office staff has been quarantined or isolated for the last two weeks due to a COVID-19 outbreak. However the staff is beginning to come back to work.
“That is starting to repair itself,” Carroll told the board. “That severely hampered our ability to back up drivers and it caused some longer delays. That will start to improve now. We are also currently analyzing all of our routes looking for efficiencies.”
To watch the meeting in full or read the minutes, go to the YCSD board meeting website.
