Many changes are necessary before students return to schools. In Fairfax County, Virginia, school leaders submitted to the school board a proposal for what those changes might look like.
The proposal includes millions of dollars to hire more custodians to enhance cleaning.
It also suggests a new look in classrooms, with desks spread farther apart and the number of children in each room limited.
The proposal also recommends limiting students to one per seat on school buses, which would require deploying more buses and hiring more bus drivers.
Schedules for students seem certain to change.
“If we look at social distancing in place, we are going to have to look at alternate-day schedules,” Superintendent Scott Brabrand said. “It could be a medley of things. It could be a staggered day. It could be different days or alternating days.”
“We need to do figure out what’s right for Fairfax County, what’s right for our community, and that’s why we’re going to do this with community input and have a task force that’s gathering folks’ ideas about what makes sense,” he added.
The school system also budgeted $600,000 to hire more nurses to help those students socially distance and learn more about hygiene.
Brabrand said Fairfax County also is preparing for the possibility of Saturday classes to reduce the number of students in the buildings.
