School Districts Dealing with COVID-19

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By Kalika Havili

When students went back to school, precautions had to be taken considering COVID-19. The Cougar Claw interviewed Ben Horsley, the executive officer for the Utah Public Information Officers Association and asked him how they went about deciding what actions they would take.
“Every school district received hundreds of pages worth of a questionnaire from the CDC, asking many questions about what the district would do in certain situations due to COVID-19,” Horsley states. From this questionnaire came all their plans for what school would look like with COVID-19 precautions for each school in every district. All the districts were similar when it came to their plans for reopening school. Once school started, some of those plans were modified based on what worked and what they could see was not working.
The plan that Kearns follows is one of three schedules that the Granite School District (GSD) allows. The plan that KHS is currently using is a combination of online and face to face learning. Some students and parents chose to learn online. Students can also come to school Monday- Thursday and online on Fridays. The second plan is modified, you would only go to school one to two days a week and have online school for the rest of the week. The last plan is full dismissal, which means that school would be online only.
To lighten concerns about nutrition during a dismissal, the students wouldn’t be in school, but the district would still provide breakfast and lunch for those families that need it.
“The Granite Schools District, as well as the other districts get guidance from the CDC Health Department, asking questions and having formal meetings. They call multiple times a day about what to do in certain situations,” States Horsley. The district is doing all they can to keep the students safe and healthy, including requiring masks and sanitizing before and after every class.