Metro Schools Still Setting Virus Plans as Return Looms

A school employee uses a disinfecting ionizing gun to clean a classroom during a media tour of the Norris Middle School in Omaha, Wednesday, July 29, 2020, to show how school authorities are preparing for the return of students to school in the time of COVID-19. (AP)
Nebraska schools are still scrambling to set attendance and safety policies in the wake of a global pandemic, with the start of the new school year less than a month away, even as the number of cases of COVID-19 continue to climb in Nebraska.
Westside Community Schools in Omaha announced last Tuesday that students will attend in-person classes only part of the week while distance-learning from home the rest of the week, the Omaha World-Herald reported. Westside’s school year is set to begin Aug. 18.
Other schools, such as Papillion La Vista Community Schools, plan a full reopening of schools, while imposing mask and distancing policies. That has drawn objection from the local teacher’s union, which said in a statement this week that the district’s plan to fully reopen isn’t safe.
Westside Superintendent Mike Lucas said that the district’s plan could change, and all students could be required to stay home and learn remotely, if coronavirus conditions worsen by the start of school next month.
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