The Jefferson City School District held a "Back to JC Schools Re-entry Q&A" session Friday via livestream to answer questions submitted by staff and families about returning to school.
Participants in the Q&A session included Superintendent Larry Linthacum, Chief of Learning Shelby Scarbrough, Chief Financial and Operating Officer Jason Hoffman, Director of Health Services Chad Sooter, Director of Communications Ryan Burns and Cole County Health Department Communicable Disease Coordinator Chezney Schulte.
Participants collected questions submitted by staff and families and compiled the most common questions to answer during the livestream, Burns said.
Many questions involved what the school day will look like, such as lunch, transportation, social distancing and cleaning procedures.
Cleaning products intended for use in schools and approved by the FDA to kills viruses have been delivered to each building, Hoffman said. During school hours, custodians will thoroughly disinfect high-touch surfaces throughout each building on an ongoing rotation, such as water bottle fill stations, doorknobs, entrance and exit handles, handrails and walls.
"The custodians this summer have received additional training and new expectations," Hoffman said.
Since the number of students in each classroom has been reduced by about 15 percent, the district has determined how many students can be in each classroom and what furniture needs to be removed to allow for as much social distancing as possible, Hoffman said.
While 6 feet of distance cannot be maintained in every classroom, each classroom will allow for 3 feet of distance, Sooter said.
About 16 percent of students signed up for virtual learning, at an additional cost of $3 million to the district.
"That will help with being able to space students out," Hoffman said.
The district has purchased about 1,500 additional desks to replace tables, as well as social-distancing signs, hand-washing signs, masks, Plexiglas and devices that scan each student who gets on the bus, which will help if contact tracing is necessary, Hoffman said. If a student forgets a mask, he or she will be provided with a disposable one.
There will be 26 percent fewer bus riders this year compared to the first day of school last year, so the bus capacity has increased by 25 percent, Hoffman said. The students will load the bus from back to front to keep them from intermingling, there will be seating charts and masks will be required for all students on buses.
Each morning, students can pick up a bagged breakfast to take to different locations in the building to eat.
At lunch, the cafeterias will not be used for the most part, Hoffman said. Elementary students will be served throughout the building, and secondary students will go to the cafeteria in groups of four classes to take a prepared tray of food back to the classroom.
Each building will have thermal cameras to scan everyone's temperature as they arrive. However, an elevated temperature does not necessarily mean a person is ill. For example, Sooter said, they could have run to school in hot weather.
If someone has a high temperature, they will be pulled aside discreetly so the school nurse can scan the person with an FDA-approved thermometer to determine if they have a fever.
Sooter said while he cannot guarantee a student or staff member will not contract the coronavirus, he can guarantee the extra measures put in place will help.
"When we are aware of it, a process will be given so that way we can mitigate the risk of spreading it to others," he said.
Although some districts have delayed the first day of school, JC Schools still plans to start Aug. 24.
"The virus is still going to be here in September, just like it's here in August," Sooter said. "Delaying school will only delay our children, our students our staff getting back to the new normal and meeting with their cohorts and having a structured education setting."
The cases in Cole County are lower than in districts that have delayed start times, such as St. Louis County. As of Friday, Cole County had 83 active COVID-19 cases, according to the Cole County Health Department.
"The risks of having our kids out of the seats, the risks of postponing certainly don't outweigh the benefits of having our kids back in school now," Schulte said. "I'm excited to get everyone back. I think it's a necessary thing to do as a parent, as a community member, as a nurse."
The district will inform families next week with more information about virtual learning tool Launch, building-specific plans and a plan for distance learning in the event of a closure, Burns said.
To watch the livestream video, visit youtube.com/jcschoolsvideos. To view the full re-entry plan, visit bit.ly/BackToJCSchools.
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JC Schools fields questions about re-entry - Jefferson City News Tribune
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