BOE PROTOCOLS AFFECTING THE INS AND OUTS OF SCHOOL
We would love to have students back five days a week but, until we have a compre- hensive public health plan or we finally have a vaccine, we may have to be realistic. — Monongalia County Board of Education President Nancy Walker
Mon County Schools has established a litany of protocols that will shape how kids attend school this year.
Health Masks are required for high school and middle school students. Anyone reporting to school without one will be given one by the school. In fact, the school board is spending millions of dollars to ensure schools have enough PPE and supplies to maintain best practices. Social distancing will be enforced at schools, although the CDC’s 6-foot recommendation isn’t possible in most schools, even with reduced populations. Implementation of a 3.2- foot span when 6 feet isn’t possible is recommended by the state’s COVID-19 Czar, Dr. Clay Marsh. The school system is also exploring holding classes in larger spaces like gyms, cafeterias, and even outdoors. Teachers and staff will suggest handwashing to students regularly, and hand sanitizer stations will be placed throughout school campuses. If a student tests positive for COVID-19, the school may close for two to five days to allow for contact tracing and cleaning.
Transportation Transportation will be tricky. The CDC has suggested only 18 students should ride a school bus together to maintain social distancing: one student per seat, forward-facing, and rows skipped between students. Exceptions are made for students from the same household. Superintendent Campbell says it will be impossible to meet those guidelines. Instead, Mon County Schools is asking all parents with the ability to drive their children to school to do so. All schools will identify and share specific drop-off and pick-up points before September 8. Parents will not be allowed in the buildings. For students who must ride busses, each bus will be sanitized after each run, because most school busses pick up and deliver students to the county’s elementary, middle, and high schools each day. Masks will be required, and extras will be on board for students who forget them.
Food Meals will look different this year—lunch breaks with long lines and hundreds of students together in cafeterias will not be permitted. Superintendent Campbell suggests that meal delivery will vary by school depending on its capacity and student population. Meals will likely be served in a pre-packed, brown bag format. A restaurant-style concept is under consideration where the school kitchen is open from the start of the school day until the end of the school day. Lunch pre-orders have been discussed as well as smaller lunch periods at each school—six at Morgantown High School, four at University High School, and one at Clay-Battelle Middle/ High School. The county’s middle schools will also adopt more lunch periods as their populations require, and these students may be eating lunch in classrooms. If schools are forced into full-time remote learning, the school system will adopt a feeding program for students in need.
September 10 Second day in-person for students A–M and the first day of remote learning for students L–Z.
18 MORGANTOWN • AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020
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