It’s August and that means students are gearing up to return to school later this month. The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District stated that, although masks will be strongly encouraged, they will not be required when classes begin.
Superintendent Clayton Holland spoke to KSRM:
“Our masks, right now, is highly recommended. We’re recommending that students and staff wear a mask. It will be an option. We’re going to keep track of what’s happening in our buildings in each location and make decisions on a school-by-school basis, but we are starting with that optional piece with highly recommended. I’m going to encourage folks to wear a mask to do that part but it is optional. The feedback we’ve got is that’s where most of our community wants to be, but when we have one mandate we have such a difference in our communities. We’re so spread out that what’s happening in one community is often not the same as another. We want to have the flexibility and that ability to adjust as needed.”
Holland said that the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District mitigation plan allows for the masks to be optional, but also said:
“That’ll be ongoing, but a real layered approach. We do have the Bi-Polar Ionization in our buildings as far as air filtration. So we have a real hospital quality air filtration happening, still increase cleaning and hygiene and students cohorting to an extent and we can always tighten that down more. A lot of things are in place, a very layered approach to what we’re doing to start school off.”
Also, Holland said that they will continue to utilize the district’s COVID-19 dashboard:
“So we will continue to have the dashboard. We actually are going to move it to a seven day dashboard to match what CDC is now doing. Also, there’s a color code change. For that regional piece, we’ll keep that there. I don’t know if we’ll have the ability just yet to adjust the dashboard for a school community piece, but for the regional aspect we’ll keep the dashboard. We’re really not looking at regional shutdowns or regional anything like that, but to keep us informed of where we are as a community.”
Additional protocols will remain in place, including the policy requiring students with COVID-like symptoms to stay home.