It's the first day of school for most Linn-Mar students. Early childhood and K through 9th grade students are back Monday while 10th through 12th grade students return Wednesday.
“We’re working to make this place as safe as possible. I think it’s a safe plan, and it’s a good plan,” High School Principal Jeff Gustason tells KCRG-TV 9.
About 400 of the nearly 2300 high school students are taking online-only classes, which means there will still be a significant number of students in the school hallways, which is why Gustason says they’ve taken many precautions to minimize the number of students in school at one time.
“We had to take out a lot of our commons area furniture, so as you look around the building and you see normally where you might have 40 or 50 in some places 80 to 100 students, you’re going to see 16 or 30 students in those areas,” he tells KCRG-TV 9.
It will be a one student to table ratio and inside the classrooms. Gustason says they are also working to minimize students in the building and offering a non-class campus release for 9th through 12th graders with parent permission.
“If they are to be here on one day, they only have to be here during that class period. They don’t have to be here at any other time,” he added.
Hand sanitizing stations are also set up throughout the school, as well as directional arrows on the floor where students will cross paths.
Gustason says he’s confident in their plan but knows not everything will go perfectly, and they are planning for that too.
“We also know we are going to have to adapt to changes and some things that we have laid out may not happen the way we want them to so we’re going to have to make changes so they are happening the way we want them to,” he says.
(Photo from KCRG-TV 9)