ROCK SPRINGS — Sweetwater County School District No. 1 will begin to develop a new task force that will address reentry into school in the fall.
The Smart Start Task Force will consist of about 25 individuals made up of school board members, teachers, administrators, staff members, business leaders, students, and parents. It will begin work immediately to address everything from effective social distancing to transportation and nutrition services.
Superintendent Kelly McGovern addressed the issue at last night’s school board meeting stating the health and safety of students and staff will be the top priority in August.
“We know that those plans will have to be very versatile, knowing that they could change at any time, and that we would be able to mobilize as we needed to and very quickly,” McGovern said.
Ideally a starting point would be to have task force small enough to make it workable while also following Governor Mark Gordon’s orders to limit the number of people in a given room, McGovern said.
She added that a diverse group of community members with various viewpoints will help the district make better decisions moving forward.
“One thing that we need to keep in mind though is that any of the recommendations that we currently have could change,” said McGovern. “And that’s why our reentry plans have to be very versatile. They could be phased in approaches as well. It’s all going to depend on what the health data says.”
Trustee Stephanie Thompson, who volunteered to serve on the task force along with Max Mickelson, said it should look at how other school districts phased back into school after the coronavirus shutdowns.
Mickelson said the district is just not going to be able to accommodate every individual belief about COVID-19 successfully, and that meeting the health, safety, and educational needs of the students and staff should be the main priority.
Trustee Matt Jackman recommended a school nurse serve on the task force as someone who would most likely be on the front line should someone become ill from COVID-19. Chair Carol Jelaco said that “social-distancing is not going away,” and that the district’s classrooms are not necessarily designed to accommodate that fact.
McGovern said the district will take a look at State Board of Education recommendations, and present its plan to the board before school starts in August. Later in the meeting, the board passed a motion to purchase more emergency supplies PPE for the district before August 15.
No Variance
The board also passed a resolution to follow all federal, state, and local guidelines concerning COVID-19 rather than seek a variance to overstep those guidelines.
McGovern said the district has been receiving a lot of questions from coaches, students, parents, and other supervisors about allowing kids to get back into activities. She said districts have been all over the map across the state, but that SCSD No. 1 will be ready should the situation change.
Trustee George Reedy said that the district could jeopardize its insurance by not following Center for Disease Control’s recommendations and other guidelines.
“It would not be a good outcome if something happened, and we would all feel terrible if a child got sick or worse,” Reedy said.
As of now, the SCSD No. 1 fall semester is scheduled to begin on Monday, August 17.
