News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Putnam County Schools will reopen August 3 with in-classroom learning, a remote learning option, and strong protocols in place to protect students.
Director Of Schools Corby King said the system’s leadership team believes it can keep students safe while getting students back to the best place for learning to take place.
“The American Academy of Pediatrics came out and said that in-person learning is best,” King said. “As educators, we know that in-person learning is best. That’s the best for our students, is the best for our teachers and for our families. So to the extent possible, that’s going to be our goal as we move into this fall. But in saying that, absolutely, we will continue to monitor the number of active cases in our community.”
Plans have been put in place to protect students and deal with COVID cases that likely will occur. King said adjustments will be made as needed.
“We’re going to try to provide some consistency for families, whichever direction they choose, whether it’s in-person or remote,” King said. “Our plan is not perfect. We realize that there will need to be adjustments once we get started. We’ll see what’s working, what’s not working and will just a plan as necessary.”
Parents interested in remote learning can apply beginning Wednesday. The at-home component will look much different than it did when schools closed in March. King said parents interested will be contacted by the school system.
“Just to get the classes set up and what you need, but also making sure that you understand the implications of that,” King said. “That your child has to log on to certain time during the day, connect with the teacher, work with the teacher, submit work. They’re going to get the work graded and set back just like we were in school. We have to do that to provide a certain standard of education for the child. We are a public education institution. We do have guidelines to follow.”
Parents will have a 15-day trial period to begin the fall semester in which they can make sure they like the choice they have made and feel comfortable going forward. At the end of that period, King said students will be locked into either in-school or at-home learning for nine weeks.
Students and teachers will be required to wear masks on buses, in common areas and in hallways, King said.
“Once students get in their classroom and they’re in their desk, they’ll be able to remove their mask,” King said. “As long as the teacher’s at the front of the classroom, six feet away from the students, can provide some social distancing, then the teachers would be able to remove their mask as well. But if the teacher’s moving over to work one-on-one with the student or a small group, then the teacher and the student, we would encourage you put the mass back on while we’re in close contact.”
King said masks will be critical to the school experience.
“There are a lot of strong feelings about masks, but just encouraging our students, if we want to remain open and we want to be in school right now, this is what we have to do,” King said. “It’s not comfortable. It’s not ideal. It’s not what we want to do either. But it’s what we have to do if we’re going to be open. So I’m going to hope families will encourage their child to wear the mask, to put them on when it’s possible to socially distant, you know, distance yourself from others.”
Classrooms will return to a more old-fashioned structure with desks in a row and assigned seating. Students will also be tested for fever when they arrive at school and a second time during the middle part of the day.
Buses will run as normal, but masks will be required. King said early guidance on social distancing on buses would not be practical. King said parents who have the ability to provide transportation for students would be appreciated.
“Family siblings we’re asking to sit in the same seat and those who get on at a certain bus stop, sit together from that bus stop,” King said.
King said the recent surge in cases across the state and in Putnam County have given his team pause. He said his biggest concern will be filling the ranks of substitute teachers needed this year.
“We’re going to have a student or a teacher that’s going to test positive, we know that’s coming,” King said. “We don’t intend to shut down over one outbreak or one case. We will do the contact tracing in those. Students or teachers would have to self quarantine. I know one of the big struggles we’re gonna have will be with substitutes. And it is very likely that, you know, we struggle to find substitutes in a good year, enough substitutes. So if we have a small outbreak and we have three, four teachers in a school that we’ve had to send home to quarantine, along with our normal absences, that could end up pushing us to a shut. And I don’t want to give hard numbers because, you know, we just don’t have those. But. That could push us to where we would have to close for a few days distantly because we can’t find subs. And we’ve got to be able to cover the classrooms so that that’s a big concern that I have.”
School registration will take place as scheduled July 30.
