As school resumes across the Coast, students will return to the classroom — but some protocols from the COVID-19 pandemic will remain.
Throughout the Harrison County School District, for instance, drivers will disinfect the buses at the end of all routes. Sneeze guards and touchless hand sanitization stations will be placed at each serving line in the cafeteria, and school visitors may be limited. Masks and face shields will be optional, and if worn, they must meet the dress code requirements.
As he readies for the first day of school on Aug. 5, Superintendent Mitchell King pledges to follow all mandates from the Mississippi Department of Health and the governor.
“We are grateful for the unrelenting support from our students, parents, and community members,” King says. “As we prepare for the upcoming school year, we are making some adjustments to our protocols, and we will remain vigilant in our constant efforts to keep our students and staff healthy and safe.”
Harrison County is hardly unique in its efforts to balance a continuing need for caution with a desire to return to normalcy. School districts from the local to national level must chart a path forward after a 2020-21 school year marked by lockdowns, distance learning and debate about when and how schools should reopen.
In its 2021-22 “Plan for Success,” the Biloxi School District notes that “all plans are fluid and may change with updated guidance or changes in the number of cases in the local area.” The plan generally calls for a “traditional, in-person learning environment,” with virtual learning available, pending approval, to some students with a qualifying medical diagnosis. Buses, classrooms, cafeterias and high-touch, high-traffic areas will be thoroughly cleaned multiple times throughout the day, with deep cleaning to occur at the end of each school day. Students will be distanced at breakfast and lunch to allow for mask removal and a safer eating environment.
Jackson County Schools also will resume under “normal operating conditions,” says Dr. Penny Westfaul, director of curriculum and central office administration.
“I am most excited that, hopefully, our students will be able to return to school campuses, as they would have in pre-COVID school years,” she says. “Our district and school administrators feel strongly that students need to be physically present on school campuses in order to address their academic and social-emotional needs.”
Like King, Westfaul stresses that the district will follow all local, state and federal orders as classes resume. Given the extraordinary circumstances of last year, she also emphasizes the need for cooperation to ensure students transition successfully.
“I would advise families to work closely with teachers of their children with the goal of remediating any learning loss that may have occurred due to effects of the COVID-19 pandemic,” she says.
In its updated guidelines for COVID-19 prevention in schools, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that “safely returning to in-person instruction in the fall 2021 is a priority.
THE CDC’S BACK-TO-SCHOOL RECOMMENDATIONS ARE AS FOLLOWS:
- Masks should be worn indoors by all individuals (age 2 and older) who are not fully vaccinated. Consistent and correct mask use by those who are not fully vaccinated is especially important indoors and in crowded settings, when physical distancing can’t be maintained.
- Schools should maintain at least 3 feet of distance between students within classrooms, combined with indoor mask wearing by people who are not fully vaccinated, to reduce transmission risk.
- Cleaning and disinfection, ventilation, hand washing, respiratory etiquette, contact tracing, staying home when sick and getting tested, in combination with quarantine and isolation, are important prevention techniques to keep schools safe.
- Students, teachers and staff should stay home when they have signs of any infectious illness and be referred to their healthcare provider for testing and care.