Dear Families,
I wanted to take a moment to clarify a message I sent to our staff on Friday, September 4 and that has been circulating on social media. In my message, I encouraged our staff to periodically have students get up and move to help with social distancing in classrooms. This is only needed in a few rooms as we are able to have social distance in most classrooms because of our class sizes and how the rooms are set up.
What might not have been clear is that the intent of this action is to continue to keep students socially distanced by moving them apart periodically every 10 to 12 minutes. This may coincide with brain breaks and activity breaks which are a part of our wellness plan. One of our key mitigation strategies is to do what we can to keep kids as separated as possible to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other illnesses. Less exposure through social distancing reduces the risk of positive cases (hopefully) which then reduces the number of students quarantined. These were to be discussed in our faculty meeting on Tuesday, September 8 where staff could offer input as we continue to evaluate what’s working and what we can do better. This will also be discussed with our local Department of Health.
I apologize for any confusion my original message may have caused. We will continue to talk with our local Department of Health officials regarding our mitigation strategies and update as needed for the safety of our children and staff. We take our role and responsibilities in the ongoing safety of our people very seriously. We have implemented a very comprehensive return to learn plan which allows for our people to have a safe environment . Thank you for all you are doing to help us minimize risks in our school buildings, and for making the start of the 2020-21 school year successful.
Sincerely,
Ken Slater, Superintendent
River Valley Community School District