News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Putnam County Schools carefully watching sickness as the spring semester opens Monday.
Director of Schools Corby King said the holidays typically produce various illnesses as people come together and congregate.
“A lot of sickness in the community right now, so we are concerned,” King said. “People have been gathering over the holidays. We’ll monitor attendance rates really closely when we come back next week. Hopefully, it’s run through, and the kids are going to be healthier when they come back and maybe in a little better spot.”
King said school officials communicate regularly with the Putnam County Health Department and local pediatrician offices to monitor trends, especially during this time of the year.
“If it’s really heavy, they’ll call and say, ‘Hey, this is going around. We might want to just keep an eye,'” King said. “This is what we’re seeing in our offices. Then we start monitoring the attendance rates and just make a decision based on it from there.”
The holiday break always produces excitement, but King said mentally the time away helps students, teachers and administrators.
“By the time you get to the end of the nine weeks, people are just tired, mentally tired, physically tired,” King said. “They always come at a good time. We’ll come back ready, focused and ready to go to work.”
King said the time to help kids get ready for the return to school begins Friday. King said parents and guardians can help make the transition smoother for Monday’s return to class.
“Start getting them back in a routine, just bedtimes, getting up in the morning,” King said. “It’s hard to do that when you’re at home. We tend to stay up later, even on the weekends. It’s tough over a weekend, but it’s important, especially for our younger students, that 8, 8:30, bedtime, whatever it is, it’s your home for a school night. It’s important to get that routine established again so the kids are ready to get up at 6, 6:30 in the morning.”
“It’s all about routine. The sooner we get back in that, the less shock it is to the system when we do.”
In other business during Thursday night’s School Board Meeting, the board approved a $5,000 option payment to the City of Cookeville for the land at Highway 111 and Old Sparta Road. This is payment three of six for the possible purchase of the 92 acres for school facilities.
Demolition work will begin the middle part of next week at the former Park View facility. The system beginning the process of remodeling that facility for a pre-K center. Work just about complete on the Avery Trace Softball fields.
