While students flocked back to school Monday, for a second year they’re facing a global pandemic.
All three Butler County districts are following similar Return to Learn plans as last year. None of the districts are requiring masks at this time and all are following information laid out by the Butler County Health Department.
This includes that parents are asked to check their students for symptoms before coming to school every day and keep them home if they are symptomatic.
Overall staff at Poplar Bluff R-I are feeling better this time around about the start of the school year.
“Just like last year, obviously, we’re happy to have our kids back and we’re very proud of the fact that we managed to keep our doors open all last year,” Dr. Scott Dill, superintendent, said. “I feel that our kids are better off as a result of that, entering into this year. The questions are as large and as intricate as they were last year, but they’re not as numerous.”
The main questions focus on how the new COVID-19 variants spread among students.
“We feel that the plan that we have, the protocols that we have placed, and probably most importantly, our relationship with Butler County Health Department, that through a combination of all of those factors that we are prepared to respond as needed to ensure the safe reopening schools for our kids,” Dill said.
Return to Learn plans are similar to last year’s plan.
The districts are not requiring masks for teachers or students at this point.
“At this time, masks are recommended in all settings, but that’s as far as we’re going right now,” Dill said for Poplar Bluff. “The community, through the board, has requested we see how this moves through school communities before we take drastic action.”
In the Return to Learn plan, parents are also asked to check their students for symptoms before coming to school every day and keep them home if they are symptomatic.
District nursing staff will screen students who self-refer or are referred for symptoms during the day, but there will not be mass screening points.
The districts are working with the Butler County Health Department for contact tracing, which looks similar to how it did last year.
At Poplar Bluff, those individuals who have been fully vaccinated are exempt from contact tracing.
Dill said this is the only reason somebody in the district may ask another person’s vaccination status.
Return to Learn offers three courses of action for the districts.
All of the districts are starting in option A, which has extra cleaning and age-specific procedures, but is largely the same as it has been for years.
Under option B, districts could modify the schedule to have fewer people in the buildings at a time. This could mean morning and afternoon shifts for students or some days in person and some virtual.
Option C has all instruction remote with students and teachers staying home.
The full plan is available at poplarbluffschools.net, www.neelyville.k12.mo.us, and www.tr10.us.
“The protocols we use are unchanged from last year,” Dill said. “We learned a lot and we know what works and what doesn’t.”