The return to in-person learning is not just about low coronavirus numbers among the community. School district staff have to rethink almost all aspects of school in order to abide by COVID-19 protocols.
Eugene 4J Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Charis McGaughy said the district will have to determine how many teachers they need to maintain online and in-person learning, as well as social distancing protocols associated with having students in schools.
“A lot of examples of the logistics that we need to do,” said McGaughy. “Such as how are arrivals and dismissals going to work? How are class changes in the hallways going to work? How are we going to feed students who are in-person? What safety protocols are we going to use?”
And staff will also have to figure out what transportation to school looks like, as well as what those protocols will be, and how they will be enforced.
“For the students who are going to come back in-person, we need to come up with bus transportation, knowing that our school buses also have physical distancing limitations,” said McGaughy. “So that’s really a complicated math problem of how we’re going to—with reduced bus capacity—get all of our students, how many bus runs are we going to have to do to be able to accommodate all of that.”
McGaughy said the district is working to determine health and safety requirements and signage to make sure students and staff can safely return to school, when that days comes.
The district is encouraging the community to follow the local and state coronavirus pandemic safety guidelines.
