St. Martin Parish schools prepare for year, ask parents to take survey
BREAUX BRIDGE, La. (KLFY)- The St. Martin Parish school district is finalizing plans and procedures to protect students from COVID-19 this school year, and there will be a number of changes to how schools will operate.
“When the students get in class, their temperature will be taken every morning. We will provide hand sanitizer when boarding the bus. We’re going to remove non-essential furniture and then the desks will be spread out and a little piece of tape on the floor that denotes six feet,” St. Martin Parish School Superintendent Allen Blanchard said.
He says these are just some of the changes students can expect when going back to school this year.
School busses will be limited to 50% capacity, hand washing stations will be scattered across schools and students will be encouraged to wear masks.
Blanchard says there may also be less students.
“We have had some students and parents that have already registered for virtual. If they don’t feel that it’s safe and want to keep their children home and use a virtual program, the St. Martin Parish school system has had a program for nearly ten years now that’s been very successful.”
Students enrolled in the virtual program can still participate in extra-curriculars.
“They can be in 4-H. They can play football. They can be in the band in our virtual program where that may not be possible in some of the outside charter virtual programs,” he said.
Blanchard says while many changes are set in stone now, the school board is asking for feedback from parents to prepare to put further safety precautions in place.
“We would like parents to go in and fill out the survey that will help us to figure out how many students will be riding the bus, how many students will be returning to school, how many would prefer to use a virtual program. We’re trying to get that type of data so we can finalize those plans for the opening of schools in August,” he told News 10.
Parents can detail their concerns about the upcoming school year on the survey.
It can be found at saintmartinschools.org.