School started Wednesday in Randolph for students in the USD 384 Blue Valley district.
Earlier this month, the district was the site of a COVID-19 outbreak when seven people including staff and a school board member tested positive. All are said to be on the mend and nearing the end of their quarantines.
Speaking on In Focus this week, Superintendent John Cox said it was an unusual ride for the first couple of days when the district learned of the outbreak.
“When you put a plan on paper, you think oh you’ve got this. Then when you have to start implementing the plan, you realize it has glitches and so having that glitch prior to school starting was a blessing because we figured out what we needed to differently,” he said.
Cox says all buildings underwent thorough cleaning and sanitizing. Additionally, the district has implemented some changes to when recess and lunch are spaced out.
“It will be on a rotating basis from lunch to recess and from recess back to class. That gives plenty of time for cleaning in between lunch periods. Opaa, our lunch provider has been very good at working with us to provide a select hot choice and a cold choice each day,” he said.
Unofficially, there are approximately 215 students enrolled for fall classes in USD 384. Cox says about 17 of those students opted for the remote learning option offered by the district. The rest will attend classes in person.
“We will also be using Zoom as our platform to deliver (instruction). Grades 5 through 12 will be using Google Classroom and K-4 will be using Class Dojo to place the materials out for parents and students to access
Cox says the idea is to make access to the classwork easy for parents.
“We’ve expected that our teachers will record the Zoom meetings and place them on either the Google Classroom or Class Dojo so that when parents get home from work, they have the opportunity to understand what was taught and help their student manage the materials,” he said.
Cox is the new superintendent at USD 384 Blue Valley Schools, who previously worked in Parsons. He began his contract July 1, succeeding long time former Superintendent Brady Burton who retired at the end of the last school year.
