**Update: The 7/23/2020 School Board Meeting will be starting at 11:00 a.m., instead of noon as originally published in this news article.**
Norfolk Public Schools Board of Education updated on back to school planning.
Superintendent Dr. Jami Jo Thompson updated the Norfolk Public Schools Board of Education at the monthly meeting on July 13, 2020 at 5:30 p.m. at the Central Administration Building. Her update included a summary of the work being done in regard to the return to school in August.
Dr. Thompson told school board members that the district’s COVID-10 Return To School Planning Committee has drafted a comprehensive Return to School Plan based upon the 3 tiers recommended by the CDC. However, the Elkhorn Logan Valley Public Health Department (ELVPD) has indicated that they are moving to a 4-tier colored risk dial. Therefore, the committee will be re-aligning plans to this 4 tier system. This move will allow the district to respond quickly when there is a change in the COVID status within the community.
Dr. Thompson did not go into detail on the specifics of the plan, as they are still being developed, but she said it would include several different scenarios. These scenarios would include students attending in person, a hybrid scenario with a combination of in-person instruction and home-based learning, as well as a scenario with all students learning remotely. Each scenario in the plan will include detailed safety measures. These scenarios and their details will be discussed at the July 23 school board noon meeting.
Dr. Thompson told board members “If our first day of school was planned for tomorrow, I believe that we would open with all students attending on-site with safety precautions in place. However, this is a very fluid situation and could change before August 13. We will be evaluating our situation on a weekly basis, in conjunction with the ELVPHD to determine which tier we are in and which scenario is appropriate.”
She also went on to say, “We want to have all of our students in school and we will have safety precautions in place to maximize this possibility. The extent that we are able to do that will be based on the level of COVID activity in our area, on a weekly basis.”
