MOORE HAVEN, FL. -- The Glades County School Board met August 3rd to discuss a 46-page plan to reopen the schools.
The plan includes training for teachers this week to prepare COVID-19 safety precautions and the possibility to have health department safety teams meet with staff under the direction of Dr. Joseph Pepe, administrator of the Glades County Health Department.
While most counties have written opening plans of about 10 pages in length, the board seems confident that they have covered all the contingencies that may happen as the schools open for the first time since March and during the 2-hour board meeting went through the plan page by page.
Students using e-Learning, 310 individuals have elected this option, will follow the same schedule as students at the school campuses. One issue is preparing meals for students with a limited staff and using the lunch room with staggered sittings starting about 10:30 a.m. Staff lounges and conference rooms will be closed, bus drivers and all school staff will self-screen themselves. Buses will be cleaned daily and sanitizing stations will be provided.
Some classes, it was noted, may not be able to physically distance students in the classrooms due to having only one teacher for the subject and too many students. Masks are not mandated but some plastic barriers have been ordered but not installed yet.
Field trips are cancelled and no school open house for parents, according to the opening plan and PTO and staff meetings will be virtual. Students will not be using lockers and will be carrying computers and materials in backpacks.
Dr. Pepe indicates screening procedures are changing rapidly and self-monitoring and self screening are now recommended with no temperature checking at the doors. There may be a possibility of rapid self-testing kits coming for students used with parental permission. He said other school districts have encountered students and staff being infected soon after school re-opens. Pepe also discussed the possibilities of parent's driving children to school in lieu of taking the school bus and how to manage what to do when students and staff do test positive for the virus and tackling contact tracing, saying Glades county may be the first Florida school system to get approval for contact tracing and testing.
When students or staff test positive, they will be not be allowed back for 10 days and after testing negative for the virus.
One board member discussed the possibility of using "organic" natural sanitizers with lemon oil instead of commercial sanitizers with alcohol and peroxide. Dr. Pepe recommended following CDC procedures including approved sanitizers, some of which that might be more "green" than others. He also noted that face coverings are recommended but can't be mandated, and that the purpose of the mask is to protect others and not necessarily to protect the wearer. One problem he noted is how to get smaller children to wear masks at school and that all people may not be able to wear a mask because of medical conditions.
Four bus driving positions remain open although there are seven applicants for the positions. Volunteers are needed for the lunchrooms, and will be required to wear masks.
Editor's note: Glades county has 400 individuals tested positive in a population of 13,608 indicating 1 in every 34 people or about 3% of the population have contracted the virus since March. 36% of those tested (of 1,111 so far) were positive. The Moore Haven Correctional Facility has 149 prisoners and 26 staff tested positive, and 36 in medical quarantine in the 985 prisoner facility, or 1 in 7 prisoners tested positive.
In other business the board voted to approve a property tax millage rate increase of 3.9% above the rollback rate, the rollback rate an adjusted number that would keep the tax income to the schools the same as last year, adjusted by this year's property values in the county,
Facebook Video of the Glades School Board meeting this week - 2 hours in length
Should Schools Re-Open? Podcasts from University of Minnesota Center For Infectious Disease
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