Dr Jon Smith Lawrence Co Schools Superintendent

Dr Jon Smith Lawrence Co Schools Superintendent

Week.

Students in lawrence county schools return on august 12-th.

Like many districts - there are three options: virtual, blended and traditional.

Waay 31 evening news anchor dan shaffer talked to the district superintendent and shows us some of the changes students who opt for traditional learning will notice.

"well, uh, things are going to look different..."

Superintendent jon smith says his teachers and staff are keeping a positive attitude about this school year - while doing everything they can to keep students safe.

They've purchased plenty of gloves, masks, hand sanitizer, and sanitizing machines.

He knows they can't anticipate every challenge - but they've worked closely with health and education officials to create a plan with safety as the top priority.

"generally there are going to be one-direction hallways.

The number of lockers will either be limited, or they'll be eliminated all together.

We feel like you're going to see more sanitation, more hygiene, more cleaning throughout the day.

Things that they won't see - we hired extra custodians to clean at night.

Germ-x available in large quantities."

Thanks to the governor's order - masks will be required.

He's working on securing temperature scanning devices.

If a student reads over 100.0 degrees - they're diverted immediately to the nurse's office.

Students should bring their own bottles of water because water fountains will be turned off.

Parents, he says, ask him most often about how lunch will happen and whether students will have a p-e period.

"and so, depending on school size and cafeteria size, chances are students will have to occasionally eat lunch in the classroom, but not every day, and not the majority of the time.

We're working on schedules to ensure that kids get out of the classroom; they need a break; they get out of the classroom as much as possible.

And the other part about p.e.

Obviously we're going to try to social distance as much as possible and stuff like that.

But, again, children need a break from the classroom so, by all means, we're going to make sure that we give them that.

So we'll have p.e.

As well."

Smith admits transportation is going to be a real challenge for the district.

He's encouraging parents who can - transport their child in their personal vehicle.

Buses are going to be a challenge, he says, because of the close quarters.

"we're doing the best we can as far as seating kids in a certain order.

Asking kids in the same household to sit together.

We're sanitizing the buses.

And we're not allowing all the buses to arrive at one time.

We're scheduling times for them to arrive throughout the day to break that up."

Every parent, student, teacher and administrator - in every district in every county in every state - is facing the same uncertainty when it comes to this school year.

But smith says the districts goals remain the same even through the qualms of coronavirus.

"we're all apprehensive.

Nobody really knows ultimately what this school year is going to look like.

We're hoping we're able to offer a traditional school setting throughout the year.

But ultimately we don't know.

The thing that parents need to rely on is - one - that we're going to do whatever we can to keep their children safe.

Number two is that we're going to do our very best to provide them a high-quality education, whether we can offer it in a traditional school setting or face-to-face.

And the last one is that their kids are going to be loved.

We're not only worried about the education part, but we're worried about their mental health.

We're worried about their well-being.

We're worried about their meals and things like that that we provide.

And so it's a big deal to us.

We would love to be back in the traditional school setting and for all this to be gone and us just to, again, provide their children with a high-quality education."

Joining us now via zoom is doctor jon smith-- superintendent of lawrence county schools.

Doctor smith, thank you for joining us today.

What safety precautions will be in place when students walk through the door on the first day of school ?

Safety precautions on buses?

Lawrence county is using grant money to help with mental health in the schools!

What will that look like for students?

Why is that important now?

Schools provide so much more than education-- why is it important for some students to have the district as a resource?

How can parents prepare their kids for day 1?

Any message to parents this morning?

Superintendent of lawrence county schools, dr. jon smith, thank you for your time this morning.

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