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Post Falls School District drafts plans for in-person classes this fall

The Post Falls School District board of trustees voted to move forward with its plan to reopen for the school year 2020-21.

In a special meeting Wednesday at River City Middle School, the board discussed the preliminary reopening plan for the school year commencing Sept. 8. The plan, divided into four stages — red, orange, yellow, and green — was published online this morning.

The green and yellow stages allow students to go to an almost normal school schedule. In these stages, students will attend in-person classes five days a week with social distancing and increased safety measures. According to Superintendent Dena Naccarato, Panhandle Health District said Kootenai County is in the yellow stage.

If the district sees a more significant spread, schools will likely move into the orange. In orange, schools would implement a hybrid schedule where students attend physical school two days a week and work from home for three.

“The goal was to try to provide an opportunity for kids to get some face-to-face instruction,” Naccarato said. “Then they go home, practice, work, maybe even struggle, and come back on Thursday to get help from their teacher.”

Naccarato said it will be up to the recommendation of Panhandle Health and the board of trustees to move from one color to the next.

“(Superintendents) have all been given a liaison at Panhandle Health that will review our reopening plans and talk to us about community spread within our school district,” Naccarato said. “The idea that we could perhaps be aligned with Coeur d’Alene and Lakeland may change based on whatever is happening in those communities.”

According to Naccarato, the Post Falls School District has been working with the Lakeland and Coeur d’Alene school districts to plan the best possible solution for school this fall.

“First and foremost we want to teach kids, second and foremost we want to make sure our teachers, students, and staff are safe,” board member Dave Paul said. “This stuff is changing every day. A month ago we all thought we would be starting school as normal, now it’s completely different.”

Naccarato and the board said the reopening plan is likely to change with the CDC’s, governor’s, and Panhandle Health’s guidelines. Due to Panhandle Health’s mask mandate, children are required to wear masks at school at all times. For students who plan to ride the bus, occupants are expected to wear a mask. The district will follow Panhandle Health’s guidelines for isolating exposed students and teachers.

“As a school district, we are somewhat bound by what the state decides and what Panhandle Health decides, we have to abide by that,” board member Carol Goodman said. “Hopefully the time will come very soon when masks will not be required and will be up to each individual if they choose to wear one.”

With the new plan in place, district principals will meet Monday to begin the process of planning their buildings and schedules around COVID-19.

The reopening plan additionally creates online options for families who do not feel comfortable sending their children back to school. An online survey will be sent to parents and guardians to identify how many students will return in-person, opt for online curricula, or withdraw from the district.

“Our plan is a 30,000-foot view basically people want to know what our options are to reopen and that’s what this plan represents,” Naccarato said. “We want school and we want kids in front of teachers. We want to do the very best we can for our families and for our teacher, so this is how do we do that.”