FORT MYERS, Fla. — Today Lee County Schools announced new plans for the upcoming school year, to better protect students and staff from the Coronavirus.
The district will be offering several classroom options to accommodate its 95,000 students.
“Come back face to face, stay home, but be assigned to your school through the Lee Home Connect Program. Enroll in our Lee Virtual School, enroll in our home school, and then at any point if the district needed we could pivot to our distanced learning” said Dr. Jeff Spiro, Chief Academic Officer.
For students heading back into the classroom, the district has implemented staggered arrival & dismissal. Temperatures will be taken upon arrival. Masks will be required in hallways as well as on buses, and lunch will be offered with a new grab and go procedure.
The district says they are prepared for any suspected or positive cases of COVID 19.
“So the students will come out of the classroom, and we will have an isolation room where we will have those students held until we can contact their parents or their families to come pick them up from school. We will also be recommending that they contact their health care providers immediately” said Beth Wipf, Coordinator to Health Services.
However, for those choosing a virtual learning option students will be able to tune in to live lessons in the classrooms and receive the same material.
Superintendent Gregory Adkins says the district reopened schools expeditiously, but with caution to meet the needs of our community.
“Prolonged school closures have disproportionate impacts, that are particularly challenging to Florida’s public schooled students. Especially in underserved and socially economically disadvantaged communities, and COVID 19 will likely widen achievement gaps without intervention now” said Superintendent Gregory Adkins.
