Turner Public Schools plans full re-opening with some adjustments

Turner Public Schools is going back to school this fall at full capacity. 

    “Our re-opening plan we are fairly close to business as usual with some precautions built in,” Turner Public Schools Superintendent Tony Warren said. 

   With small class sizes, he said, they are able to spread the students out within the classroom pretty easily. 

He said additional cleaning protocols have been set in place based on recommendations by the Blaine County Health Department and the Centers of Disease and Prevention guidelines. 

There is an opt-out option for students who may have some pre-existing health conditions that may feel it might be risky for them to return to school, he said. 

He added that as far as he knows most students will be returning back in-person. 

“We just want to get both the parents, the teachers on the same page,” Warren said. “This is a new learning experience for everyone involved, so everyone is learning and just kind of we’ll take it as we go sort of thing with the understanding that we’re going to have to be flexible. Our plan may change, we don’t know how the course that this is going to take — this is all new territory for everybody right now.”

As for face masks, he said, they are not required.

He said typically the school has K-6 recess in the morning for 20 minutes, but that will be split up between K-2 and 3-6, and that goes for the lunch period as well.

Lunch for grades seventh-12th will go on as usual, he said, because many students go off campus for lunch.

The custodial staff will be cleaning frequent used surfaces more often throughout the day and in the evening after the students and teachers vacate the building, he added. 

“We really see the small size working toward our advantage right now,” Warren said.