It may look vastly different this year, but Washington County will have school

On March 18, Washington County Schools shut down at the urging of Gov. Bill Lee. The coronavirus had made its way into Tennessee. Had the governor not issued his recommendation, most if not all of the state's 147 public school systems would have likely shut down anyway. The public pressure had become enormous.Washington County Schools immediately set three priorities for the period of school closure. First, we wanted to make sure our students received the nutrition they needed. A significant percentage of our enrollment depends on the free and reduced meal program and we felt that this should be addressed immediately.Two days after school closed we opened four school kitchens to serve as distribution points for drive-by pickup. Early the next week we had opened four additional pickup sites and by the end of that week we were providing front door delivery to over 100 Washington County families using big yellow school buses as delivery vehicles. The people staffing those delivery buses were regular Washington County bus drivers and volunteer teachers and school administrators. At the height of the program we were serving just over 4,000 meals per day.Our second priority was to keep our students engaged in their learning. Our incredible group of professional educators immediately ramped up an online and distance learning program. Teachers reached out to students by all means available, working hard to keep students motivated and active. Our instructional coaches developed hard-copy learning packets for students that lacked internet access at home.We expected that many children would not have internet access, but we were surprised to learn that of those families that did have internet service, many could only access it through their smart phones. A three-inch phone screen doesn't lend itself well to school work, so we issued some 500 laptop computers to families so that their children would have the technology they needed.Our third priority was to take care of our people. Washington County Schools has some 1,200 employees. State law provides that licensed educators will continue to be paid their full salary during a time of emergency closure, but that's only about half of the people that keep our schools operating. Clerks, cooks, drivers, certain supervisory staff, mechanics, maintenance workers, IT staff, and all the other dedicated individuals that work diligently to support what goes on in our classrooms were suddenly sidelined.The Washington County Board of Education took action at the board meeting following the closure to make sure not a single employee missed a paycheck. As the school closure continued we were able to bring many of our support personnel back into service. Our building and grounds had to be maintained and cleaned, our transportation fleet maintained, our computer network and other technology needed constant support, and of course we had to continue to pay the bills. We came to understand that the services provided by many of our people are essential and ongoing whether students are in class or not.When it became apparent that we were not going to return to school at any point during the 2019-20 school year, our attention turned to the ensuing year. Our school calendar was already in place: opening day would be Aug. 3. By then, our students would have been out of class some 138 days. That's a particularly long time for our youngest students who are just learning to read.We set about creating a multi-tiered school reopening plan. First, we needed an overall protocol for reopening that took into account the uncertainty of the virus itself. This protocol, released to the public in June, outlined three approaches. If the COVID-19 infection rate was at a minimal level, we would have a full reopening with all students and all teachers present. A moderate to high infection rate would activate a plan in which only a percentage of our students would be in class at any one time. Our school faculties would be present five days a week. If the infection rate went higher, we put together a plan to have all students attend school virtually.We knew that some students would be unable to attend school under any circumstances, so we adopted a plan by which any student could begin the school year virtually simply by signing up for those services. All of these protocols were developed in coordination with state and local health authorities.While the overall plan was being developed, various task forces within the system were organized. Teachers, school administrators, and various other professional staff members put together a fine-tuned plan for curriculum delivery and safety protocols within the schools. Our technology department ordered enough equipment so that our school system will have enough laptop computers for every student this year. Our maintenance and custodial departments have been planning for an elevated sanitation protocol. In short, every department has a plan in place for whatever we may be facing in August.While this work was going on locally, the Tennessee State Board of Education adopted policies and guidelines for school systems to follow in the likelihood of a COVID-related schedule alteration. These guidelines are quite complex, but the bottom line is that the State Board expects every Tennessee public school system to provide 180 days of standards-based instruction to every Tennessee student this year. Another shutdown, such as we experienced in the spring of 2020, isn't likely to happen. School may look vastly different this year than in the past, but we're going to have school.Every citizen has a stake in what goes on this academic year. It is preferable that we have our students in school, operating as usual. This will only happen if we all do that things we should; wear those masks, wash those hands, observe social distancing, and do all the others things that will help our community and our nation overcome this pandemic.Dr. William R. Flanary is Washington County's director of schools.