Last night … Columbia Borough School District held a special meeting to “discuss the Re-Opening Plan for the ’20-’21 School Year. Please wear a mask. We look forward to seeing you there! If you cannot attend the Board meeting in person and wish to attend, you can use the Zoom (virtual) link at: https://www.columbiabsd.org/o/cbsd/page/school-board–285″

Curiously, citizens who were unable to attend the meeting in person or watch id on Zoom ought to be able to view the happenings at the meeting online: Virtual School Board Meetings YouTube.For some unexplained reason, there’s a delay and last nigh’s meeting is not posted yet.

Parents and guardians of school age children are filled with mixed emotions about sending their children to school in the midst of a global pandemic.

“A clipping from the Chillicothe Gazette on Wednesday, Oct 2 1918 which shows a letter from then superintendent of schools F.J. Prout. (Photo: File photo)”

Here is a collection of articles about school opening during pandemic in modern time and over 100 years ago:

• “Should 5-Year-Olds Start School This Year? | Faced with remote learning or socially distanced classroom options, some parents of rising kindergartners are considering holding their kids back.”
• “Did Cities Close Schools, Businesses During the 1918 Pandemic? The year 2020 was not the first time public places were ordered closed to prevent the spread of a disease.”
• “3 lessons from how schools responded to the 1918 pandemic worth heeding today”

• “Closing The Schools: Lessons From The 1918–19 U.S. Influenza Pandemic”
• “The 1918 Spanish influenza and local schools” 
• “How some cities ‘flattened the curve’ during the 1918 flu pandemic. Social distancing isn’t a new idea—it saved thousands of American lives during the last great pandemic. Here’s how it worked.”

• “‘It Is Pretty Bad Down Here at Present.’ What We Can Learn From a Letter Written Just After the Height of the 1918 Flu Pandemic”
• “Schools closed for weeks during Spanish Flu outbreak”
• Pennsylvania Department of Education’s “Preliminary Guidance. Phased Reopening of Pre-K to 12 Schools”
• “What you need to know about COVID-19: CDC issues new guidance stressing reopening of schools”