St. Johns County School District drafts new plan for reopening school in the fall

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — St. Johns County school leaders have drafted a plan on what learning in the fall will look like for students.

For Cara Ferreira, these past months have been tough.

She's had to be both a mom and a teacher while her children were home doing virtual learning.

"It was a little stressful being a working single parent and having two kids in two different grades but we made it," Ferreira said.

The St. Johns County School District has come up with plan for three different models of learning to get schools re-open by August 10.

When you look at the education model school leaders created, they want to stay in the green, meaning low or no spread of the virus.

That means kids would be in school five days a week.

If COVID-19 cases go up, they’ll have to re-adjust their plan.

If the district starts to see a spread in cases, they’ll move their elementary school students into smaller cohort groups that won’t interact with other students. That’s denoted in the yellow column of the plan.

Middle and high school students could be split into two groups depending on their last name and staggered during the week to help keep crowds down at the schools.

St. Johns County School District superintendent Tim Forson said those students would do a mix of in-class learning and online learning.

“First half, come for these two days, the second half can come for an alternating two days, that 5th day whether Wednesday or Friday, being utilized for, really, sanitation in a facility because we know if we’re in that model we really do have some cases of the virus,” Forson said.

If the district sees too many cases, the district will move into the red column of the plan. That means classes would go completely online as they did in the spring.

Regardless of the plan, Ferreira said the best thing is for kids to be back in the fall safely.

“I know there’s a lot controversy about kids wearing masks but if that’s what it takes to get them back in school and healthy then I’m for it,” Ferreira said.

The plan hasn't been approved yet.

It will go to the county school board next week.

Then a survey will be given to parents in early July so that they can give their input.

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