The Lima City School District has announced a new COVID-19 plan that will affect the upcoming school year.
A press conference was held on Tuesday to announce the new guidelines. All staff and students will be required to wear a mask for the 2021-2022 school year.
Mask wearing will be required in school as well as buses regardless of vaccination status. Masks must also be worn during indoor sporting events.
The district also announced that they will implement distancing measures as well, such as assigned seating in classrooms and in the cafeteria. Plexiglass dividers will also be available when students are sitting at tables in classrooms.
Sanitation measures will also be implemented throughout the district, with hand sanitizing stations as well as wiping down desks between classes or when students are changing desks.
The district points to the rising cases of the virus as well as the Delta variant as the reason for these guidelines for the upcoming school year.
"Contact tracing guidelines we will continue to follow in Lima City Schools in order to allow more students to always be in school," said Kate Morman, Director of Nursing at Lima City Schools. "We needed to add more layers of protection for our students in order to keep them in school, 5-days a week, and in person."
"We were hoping that we weren't gonna have to wear masks," said Jill Ackerman, Superintendent of Lima City Schools. "But we just have to adapt to what these numbers are showing us and really exercise caution moving forward so that we are able to keep kids in school, and more importantly keep everybody very healthy."
The following are guidelines that the district will implement:
- School will start on August 18th, 2021, with in-person instruction five days a week.
- Per CDC recommendations, all staff and students will be required to wear a mask regardless of vaccination status in school and on buses.
- Staff and students are to self-monitor their health symptoms. Anyone with the following symptoms must stay home: Temperature over 100 degrees, shortness of breath/difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headaches, loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea/vomiting or diarrhea. These do not need to be documented but are expected to be done daily.
- We will continue to promote handwashing, the appropriate use of hand sanitizer and good hygiene practices.
- Strict sanitation measures will continue to be in place. High traffic areas and high touch areas will be wiped hourly. Hand sanitizers will continue to be used in classrooms and available in the cafeteria after recess.
- Desks will be wiped down between classes or when students are changing desks.
- Plexiglass dividers will be available when students are sitting at tables in classrooms.
- Hallway traffic flow will continue with one-way traffic to promote social distancing. Many schools will continue to use the hallway dividers.
- Seating charts will be kept up-to-date on Progressbook. Seating in the cafeteria will be distanced as much as possible.
- Students will be permitted to carry a water bottle.
- Masks will be required at all indoor sporting events.
- Visitors to our building will be very limited. Visitors will be required to wear a mask regardless of vaccination status. Visitors will be required to complete health screening and have their temperature taken.
- Contract tracing will continue per ODH guidelines.
- Breakfast will be provided in the classrooms.
- Proper ventilation will be maintained to allow maximum air exchange into the buildings to help prevent the spread of the virus.
The district also shared that under 50% of Lima City School staff are vaccinated.
The plan also will not offer online education options for the school year, and instead, return to a 5-days-a-week in person format. Ackerman says that grades show that students learn better when they are in the classroom, not virtually.
Parents are asked to monitor symptoms in their kids during the school year, and to not send their kids to school if they are sick.
Lima City Schools also stated that the currently plan could change at any time based on current conditions of the pandemic.
