YORKTOWN, Va. — The York County School Division is ready to get some students back into their school buildings for in-person learning and it could be as early as the end of September.
"At the board meeting Monday night, we shared with the board our preliminary plans for starting to bring students back into the building," Chief Operations Officer for YCSD Dr. Jim Carroll said.
On Monday, Sept. 28, self-contained Special Ed programs will begin at the elementary schools. All Pre-K through first-grade classes will start on Oct. 5. Two weeks after that, second and third-grade students will be back in the classroom.
"These are target dates -- tentative dates that are based on health and operational metrics, but we are hopeful that we can meet them. We are now in the final planning stages of working out details to make sure that we are coordinated as an organization to enter into this new phase," Carroll said.
The plan is to give teachers and students a full school day. Desks will be six feet apart and students have to wear face coverings unless their teacher tells them otherwise for a specific reason.
Breaks in between classes, recess and lunch will also look a bit different, as well.
Before putting the plan together, the district asked parents if they could bring their children to school and pick them up afterward instead of using the bus system to help maintain social distancing.
The school division still needs to decide when the school day would start and end, but the plan to reopen covers up to the third grade.
YCSD is hopeful to get everyone back into classroom safety.