jamestown-middle-school

JAMESTOWN, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – After much discussion, the Jamestown Public School Board approved to move forward with a health and safety plan when school resumes this fall.

In March this year, the community and school district was met with the unforeseen challenges that COVID-19 caused, leading to a quick switch of learning plans for the district.

Earlier this summer, the school district created a task force to investigate and plan for a safe return to learning this fall for students, families, faculty, and staff.

Superintendent Dr. Rob Lech says this led to the creation of district guidelines. This led to several planned sessions at the different schools in the district that will allow families to ask specific questions for that building.

Schools in the district would use the health and safety plan while planning their own protocols for each building.

Dr Lech says they will use phases to define community risk level with COVID-19. The color-coded guidance would align with the North Dakota Smart Restart Plan with Blue/Green, Yellow, and Orange/Red.

This would feature a variation ranging from all in-school learning to a hybrid schedule and all the way to complete distance learning.

Lech says this is all contingent on any potential outbreaks within the school district. The plan would also allow for a virtual academy to help accommodate families that would wish to continue with distance education.

Lech stated that adapting to a hybrid model would be much different than the distance learning families saw in the spring.

Masks would be highly encouraged inside the schools for all students. Parents and guardians would also be encouraged to drive their children to schools as opposed to riding the bus. Lech added that buses will still run and be sanitized regularly.

The planned first day of school for the Jamestown Public School District would be August 27th.

The school also moved to change the school calendar for the 2020/2021 school year to adjust for the new plan.

You can read the approved health and safety plan below:

JPS-Health-and-Safety-Plan-FINAL-8-6-2020

Watch the full special school board meeting below: