Lee County laying out its plans for safe return to classrooms

A mix of in-person and virtual classes, with temperature checks, mask recommendations and one-way hallways. These are some of the things kids in Lee County’s public schools could face when they head back to school in August.

The Lee County Reopening Task Force is drafting its plan for the school board to hear next month.

School starts Aug. 10, but students won’t be returning to a normal school day. Even so, some parents like Maggie Goldsmith are ready.

“Kids need to be back in school – at least mine does,” said Goldsmith, whose son will be going into the 6th grade.

The Reopening Task Force agrees – kids need to go back, and they’ve laid out a plan to make it happen.

“The cleaning protocols, the health and safety protocols, they seem to fit what we expected,” said Brenda Clarke, a parent representative on the task force.

The recommendations:

• Have pre-K through 6th grade return to school full-time and in person;
• Create a hybrid model for 7th through 12th grade, with half the students going to school in person Mondays and Tuesdays, and virtually Wednesday through Friday; the other half would be virtual Monday through Wednesday with in-person classes Thursday and Friday;
• Wednesdays would be reserved for cleaning and sanitizing the schools.

“I think for the most part, with the protocols, with the safety procedures, it’s a great start,” Goldsmith said.

“We’re coming up on about six weeks before school goes back in session, so something needs to be done”

Goldsmith said her son Darren did really well with distance learning, but it isn’t the same.

“Especially at that middle school, high school age, I think it’s super important for them to be on campus with their peers and learning some life skills along with the educational component that goes with that.”

The task force recommendation right now asks each school to create one-way hallways, check each student’s temperature when students arrive, and encourage masks.