The Adair County School Board adopted a Return to School Plan for the 2021-22 academic year during a special-called board meeting Friday night at Central Office. The plan, which includes a stringent cleaning and sanitation regiment for all facilities, also declares the wearing of face coverings will be optional for students and staff this year while inside the school building.
“I think this board really hasn’t changed its opinion since Covid-19 last year,” said superintendent Dr. Pamela Stephens. “It has always wanted parents to have a choice. There are people very strong on both sides of the issue; we just want kids in school.
“If we have a mask mandate from the Governor (Andy Beshear), then this plan goes away. Otherwise, we’re going to continue with our accelerated cleaning, and we worked on our ventilation at every school during the summer. The key thing of our plan is wearing masks.”
Students will be required to wear masks if they ride the bus to and from school. Classes are scheduled to begin in the district on Thursday.
“Masks are a mandate from the federal level if you are riding the school bus. That is something we don’t have a choice in,” Stephens said. “If parents want their children to wear masks while they’re in the building, that’s fine, if they don’t that’s fine. There is not a right or wrong answer here. We’re going with parent choice and leave it right there for now.”
