Kindergarteners in Lincoln County will get their first taste of in-person education starting Monday.
The Lincoln County School Districtsaid coronavirus case counts are low enough in the county to allow limited classroom instruction. Kindergarteners will be in the school building two days a week and will continue online learning other days. Classes will be split up, with half of the students attending Monday and Thursday, and the other half attending Tuesday and Friday.
"We're pretty excited about that," Gray told Lincoln County Commissioners this week. "That's our first foray back into having students on campus."
District Superintendent Karen Gray said kindergarteners could soon be joined by older students.
“If we can keep our numbers down, God willing and fingers crossed, everybody wearing masks and socially distancing and washing their hands and being careful, we’ll be able to add first grade two weeks after that, and then second and third grade after that,” she said.
In the best case scenario, Gray said all grades could return to the classroom on at least a part-time basis by the end of the calendar year. Some Career Technical Education students will return sooner, with cohorts of up to 10 students each spending no more than two hours a day on campus starting Monday.
Gray said the district is also working to make sure families affected by the wildfires in Lincoln County have access to education. She said 57 students were left homeless by the Echo Mountain Fire last month.
