Preventing congregations of students a top priority for local schools

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) - For the Idaho Board of Education, decreasing congregations of students in schools is a top priority this upcoming school year.

“The overarching pieces that boards look at and superintendents look at when they are deciding how they want to put classrooms together. How students will transition between class times and again, anything from how we eat lunch and how we go to recess,” Idaho Board of Education President Debbie Critchfield said.

Putting you first, we asked Jerome County Schools Superintendent Dale Layne how Jerome was preparing for student pile-ups.

He says for elementary schools they already have a plan in place for students entering and leaving.

"So students will be arriving somewhat separately and then having them go to classrooms heading to start the day so they aren't in large groups gathering in the playground or the cafeteria," Layne said.

As far as the end of the day.

“We have buses coming in. We call it waves of buses,” Layne said. “We have a group of buses that come through. Those students will be dismissed, the next student group comes and dismisses.”

Secondary school, though, is a different story. Layne says they are working through a plan to keep distances, but nothing is finalized yet.

“The passing time between classes is a challenge. One of the ideas was to dismiss some classes early,” Layne said. “The concern is if you dismiss them early and they are standing by a door. That one we are trying to nail down.”

Critchfield says parent or guardian health checks on their child are imperative to the success of in-person learning. The state will be supplying information on how to administer these checks.

“Ultimately it’s those individual choices that will impact the success for everybody,” Critchfield said

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