CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Catholic Schools Superintendent Mary Ann Deschaine has announced a plan to return to the classrooms in the fall.
Deschaine announced on Monday that schools plan to return to the traditional five-day in-school plan, but to do so they will continually be alert of federal, state, and county mandates in place with COVID-19.
“We are working with our principals and pastors to lay out a plan to have their students in school five days a week,” Deschaine said. “As we move forward with these plans we have been and will continue to take exhaustive measures to keep the health and safety of our children and staff a critical priority.”
The guidelines for the schools include detailed instructions on entrance and exit procedures, heightened cleaning measures before, during, and after school, sanitizing of surfaces and materials multiple times a day, temperature checks, masks in designated areas, and creative lab and curriculum scheduling to ensure academic benchmarks are met or surpassed.
A news release further stated that “the lunch area and times adjusted for the healthiest, safest, and most enjoyable environment, physical education restructuring to focused more on individual wellness/activities, and regulations for choir/band to be in accordance with CDC and Diocesan mandates.”
Services provided to the Catholic schools through the county will be based on the individual county school mandates to be announced later this summer.
“Our world is ever-changing, and our WV Catholic Schools embrace that, while at the same time continue to maintain a Christ-centered learning environment which includes a focus on the social, emotional, physical, and mental well-being of each child,” Deschaine said.
“We recognize that social-emotional learning is key to the successful development of a child. It is critical to life experiences. Making those moments for peer interaction possible is our job. Taking the responsibility to do so in the safest and most secure way is our responsibility and privilege.”
According to her, extra furnishings will be removed in the classrooms in order to afford the children and teachers more square footage for safe distancing.
Furthermore, janitorial and maintenance staff will receive individualized training for proper cleaning techniques, how to use required additional sanitizing equipment, and how to recognize potential concerns and the action steps necessary to resolve them.
The Department of Catholic Schools for the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston will be providing e-learning and distance engagement training for teachers in each building.
Guidelines for before and aftercare programs are also being developed.
Deschaine said each building will announce its own start date, but all Catholic schools will be in session by August 24th at the latest.