By Carrie Moritz, Garretson Gazette
On Thursday, July 30, the Garretson School Board held a special meeting to go over and approve the Garretson School Restart plan. The main goal of the plan is to have school face to face as much as possible. However, several virus mitigation measures will need to be in place, and while they may not be easy for staff and students to integrate, they will be necessary in order to keep the school open.
There are three phases in the plan, and the Garretson School District will start on Phase One. This means that moderate risk of spread is possible. Phase Two means there has been at least one active case in school. Phase Three means there are several active cases. Restrictions will be increased for each Phase, with Phase 3 requiring all distance learning.
Superintendent Guy Johnson presented the plan, which he prefaced by noting that this was a first draft and likely to change.
He had spent two hours on a superintendent’s conference call with the Department of Health earlier that afternoon, and noted that he would be working closely with the DoH in order to ensure that the school can stay open. According to his understanding, the one thing that would ensure the school will stay open is to require masks at all times when 6 feet or more of distance is unable to happen. With that in mind, the school will be requiring masks for certain in the following situations: on buses, in hallways, in the vocal room, and in smaller classrooms where 6 ft of distance between students is impossible. Larger classrooms and spaces where students can maintain social distancing may be able to relax mask use in Phase One. Students who refuse to mask without a special exemption from the school will be required to choose distance learning. Exemptions to masking will be made on a case by case basis, and may require a doctor or specialist’s note.
There will be a distance option available. Parents have until Friday, August 7th to inform the school they are choosing this option. Parents and students who choose this method will be required to commit for at least the first quarter, and students will be unable to participate in any extracurricular activities sponsored by the school. Distance learners in grades K-2nd will have a paper packet provided, similarly to this past spring. Distance learners in 3rd through 12th grades will be required to attend class by iPad at the same time as their peers, and missing class at those times will be the same as if they did not attend school. Students who are under quarantine restrictions but not ill will also be considered a distance learner while they are out.
All classes will be transmitted virtually to distance learners, and they will be recorded. Those students who are ill and unable to attend school will be sent video links to the class presentations, to be watched at a later time.
Elementary students will see a slightly shorter school day. The end of the day for elementary will now occur at 2:55 p.m., which reduces the bottleneck of students leaving the school at the same time.
All students will be asked to refrain from coming to school prior to 8:00 am, and will not be allowed to congregate either before or after school on school grounds. Fourth and fifth grades, who usually stay in the gym until school begins in the morning, will now proceed straight to their classroom. The younger students will still be able to play at the playground.
All students will see a shorter school day on Wednesdays, as the school bell will ring at 1:30 p.m. This allows teachers extra planning, set up, and sanitation time.
“We understand that this puts some stress on parents,” Supt. Johnson acknowledged. However, giving the teachers extra planning time is necessary, as their loads will inevitably increase this year.
Instruction will look different, and teachers will need to re-set most of their lesson plans.
“It’s going to feel like we took a step back in time,” said Supt. Johnson. Due to the requirements for social distancing and masking, instruction will have to be a bit more isolating. Supt Johnson said that while the teachers are very creative, and will come up with several ideas to keep students engaged, one of the largest pieces of Garretson School instruction will be virtually eliminated- group and cohort learning. Due to this, he felt it was only fair to grant extra planning time to the teachers and staff.
School sports will be following the recommendations and requirements of the South Dakota High School Activities Association, which can be found in the most recent issue of the Gazette.
Parents will be required to pre-screen their children prior to heading to school, and teachers will be asked to monitor students throughout the day. Students who present with a fever of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or higher will be sent home. Students with other COVID-like symptoms will be evaluated individually, especially as allergies and colds are commonplace in the fall. Students will be asked to sanitize their hands regularly, and sanitization stations will be set up at the entrance to each classroom. All students will be encouraged to bring their own water bottle to school, as the use of water fountains will be discouraged.
Lunch will look different, as well. Each table will be limited to four students, with plexiglass barriers. They will be using the old gym as overflow seating.
The plan is likely to change regularly, said Supt. Johnson, but it’s a way to start, and it’s a way to get and keep the students in school. It also keeps the staff safe.
“I can’t run a school without adults,” said Supt. Johnson. He noted that 2/3 of the 50 teachers and staff who had responded to the survey had expressed a concern for their health and safety. He also said that most of their substitute teachers were over age 60, and had pointed out to him that they did not feel comfortable signing up to substitute teach this year. He was hopeful that the more students and staff maintain the mitigation measures, the less likely it is that there will be major issues with spread, and therefore, less likelihood that the school will ultimately be placed in Phase 3.
During the public comments section of the meeting, community member Rebecca Barefoot addressed the School Board, making an impassioned plea for the school to reopen, since local working families need their children to attend school and do not have either the time or financial resources to manage their students’ education. Later in the meeting she had questions about the plan to go back to school, questioning if even the littlest children, kindergarten and first grade students, would be required to wear masks. Supt. Johnson replied simply that if school was to be open with students and teachers in the actual building, then every student would need to wear a mask. No exceptions. If parents did not want to send their students to school with a mask on, he encouraged them to us the distance learning option from the get go.
The school board approved the plan as is with a unanimous vote, giving the superintendent flexibility to change as necessary. The full plan is available on the school website or by clicking here to download the PDF.
Article updated 8-5-2020 to reflect comments from the public comment section of the meeting
