InTouch with Southern Kentucky August 2020 | Page 24

Preliminary numbers
indicated that roughly 30-35
percent of students/parents
selected distance learning
online.
Kyle Lively
Somerset Schools Superintendent
Richardson said there will be one opportunity
for students and parents to change their type of
instruction, but for the most part, once a student is on
that particular track, they will not be allowed to switch
back and forth between distance learning or attending
class.
Somerset Independent Schools
“Preliminary numbers indicated that roughly 30-
35 percent of students/parents selected distance
learning,” Somerset Superintendent Kyle Lively
reported. “The schools are calling all individuals that
did not complete the application online.”
Students coming to school will be required to wear
masks at all times except when sitting at their desk
within the classroom or while eating. Masks must be
worn while riding a bus, during all class changes and
anytime students are moving throughout the building.
Students with medical reasons for not wearing masks
must bring in a doctor’s note.
Somerset Independent will provide two washable/
reusable masks for each student, and some disposable
ones will be available if students forget their mask.
Students will have their temperatures taken before
being allowed to board the bus, on which they’ll have
assigned seats. They will be sent back to their house
if their temperature is 100.4 degrees or higher. School
staff will also call parents to let them know their child’s
temperature was too high to ride the bus.
Bus riders won’t have to have their temperatures
rescanned when they enter school through a separate
entrance from students who are dropped off and will
need to be scanned before entering the building.
If a child develops COVID-like symptoms during the
day, a “sick bay” will be designated for them to wait at
to be picked up.
In the classrooms, students will be seated six feet
apart. During lunch, students must sit six feet apart
and should not sit facing each other.
Cafeterias and classrooms may be used for student
to eat lunch. All cafeteria staff will wear masks at all
times.
While all field trips are cancelled, students in preschool
through fifth grade will still have scheduled
recess times.
School surfaces will be sanitized frequently. Students
will not be allowed to use lockers.
Students are permitted to bring their own water
bottles, as water fountain usage will be discouraged.
For parents who choose distance learning services,
their children will receive assignments both through
technology-related means (videos) and through
paper/pencil assignments that can be returned
electronically or in drop-off areas at the school.
Parents and students will have the chance to change
their choice of instruction method at the beginning of
the school year or at the end of the nine-week term.
Lively also assured families that distance learning
students can participate in extracurricular activities
including sports.
Other guidelines and more information is available
through the district’s website.
Science Hill Independent School
Science Hill Superintendent Jimmy Dyehouse’s
recommendation for board members to begin classes
on September 9 had less to do with the rising (at press
time) number of COVID-19 cases and more to do with
ensuring that the school is as prepared as possible for
whatever comes over the course of the school year.
“We’re doing everything we can to be ready,”
Dyehouse said. “It’s a good alternative for us because
that gives us the opportunity to wait and see what
this thing is going to do instead of jumping back into
school August 6.”
The school is also in the middle of a $1.2 million
HVAC upgrade that is expected to be completed the
first week of August, he added. Waiting ensures that
system will be ready to go when students come back
to school.
Teachers will be coming back August 17 in order to
complete their professional development days before
classes begin.
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24 • In Touch with Southern Kentucky AUGUST 2020