By SARAH PARKER | County Line Editor
The Norwalk-Ontario-Wilton Board of Education approved its school reopening plan Aug. 6. The following are some highlights:
• Students will have “travel” masks to ride the bus to and from school, plus the school will provide two gator-style masks to each student for use during the school day. The school will take charge of laundering the gator-style masks. Students will be masked throughout the day when they’re inside, but teachers will take them outside frequently so they can remove their masks.
• Teachers will not wear masks while giving educational presentations, but will put them on when they go within 6 feet of a child. Also, they will have to wear masks in hallways and workrooms.
Board member Julie Radke questioned whether the teachers had to wear masks, to which Superintendent Travis Anderson replied, “It’s a state mandate. Even though the police departments said they will not enforce it, that doesn’t mean we don’t have to follow it, because it is a mandate by the state.”
“It’s not a law,” Radke replied.
Anderson replied, “It’s not a law – but it is a mandate,” with board member Cari Keith adding, “Like all of the mandates we get, we have to do this.”
Radke suggested that a teacher could sign a waiver indicating he or she knows the risk of not wearing a mask.
Anderson replied, “The problem with not the following the mandate is if the teacher even gets symptoms or is quarantined, we may have to close the school. Our sub list has now shrunk from 12 to about four. We’ve hired three of our subs as long-term subs … if we don’t follow the mask mandate, and two teachers get it, that may not be a question that we want to answer from the public.”
School special-education director Cindy Springborn noted that the school could lose state funding if it doesn’t follow the mask mandate.
Anderson added, “If we just have to wear masks, that’s the least we can do.”
• A breakfast count will be taken for the following day, and the meal will consist of more pre-wrapped, shelf-stable items.
• Cafeterias will consist of socially distanced seats.
• A sign listing Covid-19 symptoms will be placed at the high school door, and if a student indicates he or she has symptoms, his or her temperature will be taken. The student will be isolated.
• Families have the choice between five-day-a-week in person learning or virtual learning, for which the district will contract out. Students must enroll in virtual schools on a semester-by-semester basis.
A meeting for virtual-school parents is set for Aug. 20 in the high school gymnasium. The district will supply devices for virtual-school students and internet via hotspot if they don’t have access otherwise. The deadline to sign up for virtual learning is Aug. 14.
Virtual students still can take place in extracurricular activities.
• Each seventh- through 12thgrade student will receive a laptop, and each elementary classroom will have a set of technological devices. If there is mandated school closure, each elementary student will be sent home with a device.
• Per board member Julie Radke’s suggestion, students will be able to take home books, but they will not be able to share them with other students, plus they will be quarantined for four days after they’re returned.
• Students will arrive at 7:45 a.m. and leave at 2:30 p.m., and from 2:30 to 3:45 p.m., teachers will have time for virtual teaching for students who may be absent due to health-related concerns. Deep cleaning will be done during that time period as well.
• Hand-sanitizing stations will be installed in each classroom, plexiglass dividers will be placed in high-traffic areas, drinking fountains will be turned off (though water bottles may be filled), and no-touch lunch-purchasing options will be available.
• Parents will be encouraged to drive their children to school, if possible, to better facilitate social distancing on buses. Family members will sit together on the buses; seats will be assigned. The front seats of the school buses will be eliminated to provide for more distance between the driver and the students. Also, buses will be sanitized after each use.
The full reopening plan is available at https://tinyurl.com/y6nny39f. The plan is subject to change.
Other business
• Last month, the N-O-W School District conducted a survey of parents, and of those who responded, these were the results: 68 percent said the district should reopen even if everyone couldn’t be socially distanced; 58 percent said they supported a return to school for five days a week for face-to-face instruction; and 40 percent said they were comfortable sending their children to school without additional safety measures in place.
• The school’s summer food-service program will end Aug. 19 and resume Sept. 1 with the regular school year. Since the school closure in March, school staff had served 66,648 meals as of Aug. 5.
Board member Julie Radke characterized the program as “a blessing” for both the people delivering the meals and for the kids. Those who delivered said they “got so much out of it,” she added.
