BLAINE COUNTY — The Blaine County School District had elementary school students return to a four-day in-person workweek on February 8th. Now middle school and high school students will be operating on the same schedule come March 8th.
The board ultimately made the decision after witnessing the success of their elementary schools as well as other school districts revert to having more in-person classes. The board of trustees felt that it is in the best interest of their students.
Superintendent of the Blaine County School District, Fritz Peters, said, “At some point in time you have to make a decision and the school board did their due diligence in this and I think their primary motivation is that we’re a school district and our job is to educate kids and we want to see that increase for the rest of this year. ”
Now that the decision has been made to have students back in the classroom, teachers have to prepare for helping those kids who may have fallen behind.
“They’re postponing or neglecting some of their online work. So, having the students in for four days increases the level of curriculum that we can pass on to the students. Then that personability and individual attention will be increased as well,” said Peters.
There has been both support and opposition from the community to get kids back in school. Especially, since the South Central Public Health District has put Blaine County in the high-risk level category and Blaine County officials have placed the county at the critical risk level.
However, the district ensures it will do its best to keep students and staff safe. Peters said, “We’ll still be following many of our protocols with masking and handwashing and doing the best we can to mitigate any kind of spread.”
Monday through Thursday will serve as the in-person class days with Friday being online.
