Note: this message has been transcribed from a video released by Kiowa County School District RE-1

We were hoping last spring we would be able to start the 2020-2021 school year as normal, but as you are aware, we are still facing the pandemic with restriction and mandates. 

Currently, we are finalizing our plan for reopening. We are waiting on the guidance from the Governor’s office, CDC, and CHSAA. We are still waiting on shipments of safety equipment, sanitizer dispensers, electrostatic sprayers used to sanitize all surfaces, as well as facemasks and no-contact thermometers. 

Due to these delays for scheduling purposes, the start schedule is now Wednesday, August 12, instead of the original start date of August 10. This will also give us a couple more days to finalize and get our plan approved. We believe that, by starting with a two-day school week, will give us the opportunity to try our safety protocols and experimenting with the students wearing their masks, will be good practice trial.

August 14, the Governor will make a decision on the mask mandate to be extended or not. It is our hope the mandate will be dropped or limited. We will look at the two-day as practice with the mask and protocol and are hopeful that is will change and, if it does change, we will all be happy.

Monday, August 3, we will be sending out another video in which we will have our finalized plan. We are currently completing that and will send the plan to the Health Department for approval.

At this time, we will assure you of the following for next year plan. The school is considered a government entity and is held to higher standards than private business and other community events. We must follow the guidelines and mandates or risk funding or being closed. We will remain in-person as long as we can. That will be dictated if there is a case found in our county, student, or staff. Until then, we will continue in-person.

We will have three plans in place to our instructional approach. 

1. To continue in the normal delivery that you are use too. Student is in-person throughout the school day.
2. Remote learning. This occurs when we have been in person learning for a time and, because of a case or mandate, have a temporary closure, like what we experience last spring.
3. Online. Parent and student may choose completely online learning. This will be run through the school district, but is graded and classed somewhere else in an online format. If the choice is online, the student must continue online through the first semester. At that time decision is to be made whether to continue on or come back in person.

We understand this pandemic is very confusing and frustrating situation, and our hearts go out to the students for the stress this is causing them. We assure you we are taking a very cautious and deliberate approach. We are doing as we did last spring, gathering all the information and facts we possibly can before we start planning, and communicating that to you. 

Also be assured we are keeping the health and safety of our students and staff at the forefront, and doing everything that can be done to help students in this very trying time.