Good afternoon. This is Ted Lysiak, Superintendent of the James A. Garfield Local Schools calling with an update on the 2020-2021 school year.
As you know, there is a great deal of uncertainty surrounding what the start of the school year will look like. We are scheduled to begin with students in grades 1-8 on September 1st and our kindergarteners on September 8th. I have spoken with many parents and students who have voiced very strongly their desire to return to school this fall. We know that Governor DeWine, the American Academy of Pediatrics and all of us here at Garfield want our children to return to school as well.
There is no doubt we are in a lose-lose situation. We are faced with a series of decisions that have very few good answers. In order to make certain that we can return to school as scheduled in September many things are being considered. Currently we are drafting detailed plans to address transportation, social distancing, class size, serving lunch, sanitization and cleaning procedures, movement of students within the building, PPE requirements, assessing symptoms and reporting procedures...all through the lens of student and staff safety when we reopen.
If you have been following the news you most certainly know that each of these areas is a moving target, with new information and guidance coming out each day. Before we finalize our plan for reopening with students we want to make sure we have very clear and detailed expectations for parents, students and staff.
We will be back in touch with you and provide more updates as they become available.
I would like to thank you for your patience. You have been very understanding as we work through planning for a very uncertain future. The good news is that there will be a day when we return to a sense of normalcy. I am looking forward to getting to that day as quickly and safely as possible.
As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly.
Have a great day, and go G-Men!
Ted