GOREVILLE — At a regularly scheduled school board meeting recently, the Goreville C.U.S.D. #1 Board of Education approved the 2020-2021 Return to School Plan.
The plan includes recommendations by the Return to School Transition Committee and the Goreville Learning Partnership Team, consisting of parents, teachers, administrators, health care workers, and board members.
The plan includes two options for parents: In Person Learning, consisting of a full schedule, every day until 2 PM; and Remote Learning, consisting of teacher-facilitated instruction at home, with live contact from 2 – 3:10 p.m. each day.
“We have worked for over a month to put together a plan that will protect both children and the staff and give parents a choice and while there are mandates from the state all throughout this plan, we are so excited to get to welcome back our students and provide them with a loving and nurturing experience as normal as possible,” said Superintendent Dr. Steve Webb.
The plan includes the state mandate that any person who enters the building must be wearing a mask unless a doctor specifies otherwise – something that will be very difficult for children, especially young children to master.
“We will have to work with our kids every day to help them adjust to the coverings, but that is a small price to pay to finally get these kids back to learning and socially interactive”, said Principal Jeri Miller.
The plan is packed with “wellness” items including requiring parents to self-certify that their children are symptom-free before riding the bus or entering the school.
The school has even employed an extra nurse to better handle the health of students while at school.
Dr. Webb summarizes the plan and gives credit to all of the teachers and parents who worked through the many hurdles to come up with something workable for the district. But to summarize the big picture, he said, “We are taking this very seriously and believe that while getting them back on a normal routine is crucial to their social emotional health, and while reading, math, science and their other studies are important, nothing is more important than their lives and we pray that everyone will stay healthy while we get back to living and growing in this great community.”
