Until the social distancing directive from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is lifted, “normal operations” for schools are a thing of the past, Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District Superintendent Eddie Peasant said on the district website. It’s true for school districts both locally and nationwide as they make plans to try to keep students, teachers and staff at a safe distance from each other in buildings and on buses. Public health data changes daily, so districts have to make adjustments on the fly if needed.
Safety and sanitation are the first and foremost priorities, said Cherie Labat, superintendent of the Columbus Municipal School District.
“We understand that we have to have PPE (personal protective equipment) to make sure that our parents are comfortable sending their children into the environment that we select,” Labat said. “We’re being very cautionary and we want to make sure we have what we need to comply with CDC guidance.”
Mississippi Department of Education put forth in June a list of three reopening options: a traditional school schedule, in which students are physically present at school but follow a strict set of health and safety rules; a virtual schedule, in which teachers will present their entire curriculum online for students to learn at home as they did from March to May; and a hybrid schedule, which combines online and in-person instruction.
CMSD will open on a hybrid schedule and students will attend school three days a week and learn from home two days a week. The Lowndes County School District will start the school year with a hybrid schedule and return to a fully in-person traditional method by week three, and families can sign up for an entirely virtual learning method if they prefer it.
Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District will allow families to choose the learning environment they feel is best for their children. The hybrid option will be available for grades 10-12, but all other students have only the virtual and traditional options.
The superintendents of all three districts said they hope to be prepared to switch back to an entirely virtual learning environment if the pandemic makes a resurgence in the fall.
“We were so blindsided (in March) because we left for spring break and we never came back,” LCSD Superintendent Sam Allison said. “I don’t think any of us ever thought it was a possibility. We’re going to have an online (plan) ready so that we’re prepared as a district if we do this again.”
All three districts are preparing to implement safety measures such as temperature screenings for everyone who enters the buildings and routine disinfecting of all surfaces. SOCSD is placing decals emblazoned with the Yellow Jacket mascot six feet apart on some of the floors of its buildings to give students and parents a visual aid for social distancing. Peasant said protective face masks will most likely be available on site.
The districts will implement other safety protocols, including requiring masks, limiting visitors’ access to school buildings and encouraging parents to drive their children to school in order to minimize the numbers of students on buses.
Classes will start Aug. 6 in all three districts. MDE reduced the number of required daily instructional hours from five and a half to four in order to help districts develop more flexible course schedules.
SOCSD is removing three late start days from its calendar and might also get rid of fall break. The district might have to move all classes entirely online again after Thanksgiving break if the virus is still spreading by then, according to the website.
Tess Vrbin was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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