Hunter
07/14/20
Cedar Rapids Community School District Superintendent Noreen Bush has presented a tentative return plan for the fall school year.
The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports that Bush presented the plan to the school board Monday, emphasizing that the district must be “flexible and nimble and be able to change plans quickly.”
District staff members and students will be required to wear face masks or face shields. Staff will be provided both, while elementary students will wear the shields. Middle and High School students will wear masks. Face shields will be provided when lip-reading is necessary.
Bush says the district hasn’t decided whether to open exclusively in-person, exclusively online, or a hybrid of the two. But they have plans for returning to campuses.
Elementary school students would be assigned a homeroom teacher to stay with throughout the day to limit contact between students. Middle school students would have an advisory teacher and would also be confined to one room to limit contact; Teachers would rotate in to provide instruction on different subjects. The district is still working on the plan for high schools.
The goal is to keep student-to-teacher ratio at no more than 20 to 1. Other safety and security measures for the “return to learn” program will also be implemented.
The District hopes to have an announcement about opening schools this fall by August 1st.