Reopening plan: Masks, two-day schedule for older St. Mary students

St. Mary Parish public school students in sixth through 12th grades will attend schools — wearing facemasks — two days a week with only half the school population in attendance at one time to meet the requirements of reopening school in what the district anticipates still will be Phase Two of the state’s COVID 19 response.
The remaining days of the school week, the students in these grades will continue learning online.
Students in grades kindergarten through fifth will attend school daily. Those in grades third through fifth will be required to wear facemasks, while it is not recommended those in grades lower than third grade wear masks, St. Mary Parish Assistant Superintendent Joe Stadalis told board members Thursday during their monthly meeting.
“First and foremost, we want to take every step to provide students with a safe and healthy learning environment when they return in August,” Stadalis said.
While not all students will be required to wear masks, teachers and staff will be.
The school year will begin Aug. 7 for all grades, and students will have their temperatures taken upon arriving at schools. Social distancing and frequent handwashing also will take place.
The district’s plan addresses all three phases of reopening.
“As we begin, parents will have the opportunity to complete a survey, declaring the school option for their full return or possibly enrolling in the St. Mary Parish virtual program,” Stadalis said.
If the state would take a step back to a Phase One reopening, then the district will switch to strictly online learning, while if it would move to Phase Three reopening, every student will attend school daily.
The district also will be sending out a survey through JText to get parents’ feedback, while those with more than one student are asked to fill out the survey for each child.
“That will give us better data where we can make better decisions, and we do look forward to reading the concerns, which is one of the last questions at the bottom,” Stadalis said.
Each week, beginning next Wednesday, the district will host a Facebook live forum at 5:30 p.m. with KQKI where the plan will be explained in more detail, focusing on key points for families and to get feedback. The forum will be held each week until school begins.
For those who may not have internet access, plans are being determined to meet those needs as they arise, such as school system partnerships with public entities for external internet access points, or even the possibility would be available of placing a school bus with a cellular receiver in an area to serve multiple families.
Internet access at schools also is planned for those who need it on their days off.
“It was discussed that students who have difficulties with access would be able to come to school more often, so if they needed to come to school on a more frequent basis, they could,” district Supervisor of Secondary Instruction Buffy Fegenbush said. “They would just let the school staff know, and we would have labs and other areas set up for those students where they could go that would be monitored, so they could receive access to the internet.”
While data is still being gathered for bus routes, factoring in locations and how many siblings ride the bus, Stadalis said the goal is 50% capacity in buses with only every other seat occupied.
“If you have three in the same family, they may sit in the same seat if they’re small,” Stadalis said.
While routes may have to be doubled, bus drivers have said they could accommodate the changes. On the junior high and high school level, the district only will have half the students attending at one time, too, so bus occupancy will be reduced.
In other action Thursday, the board:
—Learned from Chief Financial Officer Alton Perry that not counting audits, the board met its budget. He said work is being done on the school system’s new budget. The school board will hold its budget workshop on July 23.
—Adopted its tax millage rates for the 2020 year. The general fund millage is 8.83 mills for constitutional school tax and 11.82 mills for Consolidated School District No. 5. Special Funds mills are 12.42 for Consolidated School District No. 3 Maintenance Tax, 12.73 for Consolidated School District No. 2 Maintenance Tax and 12.53 for Sixth Ward School District No. 3 Maintenance Tax. Bond Retirement Funds are 16 mills for Consolidated School District No. 1, 8 mills for Special School District No. 4 and 20 mills for Fifth Ward Special School District No. 1.
—Approved Community Eligibility Provision Participation for the 2020-21 school year, which allows the school system to be reimbursed for free breakfast and lunches. The school board will be reimbursed 99.66% of the costs by the federal government for students who qualify for the free breakfast and lunches. Of the district’s 8,402 students, 5,234 or 62.29% qualify for the program. These students come from all 21 elementary, junior high and high schools in St. Mary Parish.
—Approved an additional $40,000 in District II Maintenance Committee funds for the Berwick Junior High front door security project. Originally, $60,000 was the estimated cost.
—Awarded a bid to Freddie Triche of LAPCO MFG in Morgan City for $112,000 for the sale of unused school property at Wyandotte Elementary in Morgan City and instructed the funds from the sale be used at Wyandotte Elementary.