Clinton, IA, schools spend $15,000 on face shields for students and staff
Click here for updates on this story
CLINTON, IA (WQAD) — Students and staff in the Clinton Community School District will be encouraged to wear face shields when they return to the classroom.
Superintendent, Gary DeLacy, says the district decided to spend $15,000 on the new supply after recommendations by the Clinton County Health Department.
To stay ahead of the curve, Clinton schools are holding a “Jump Start” program the first week of August to help students who may have fallen behind during the spring shutdown.
“It’s more of a routine of school and how to get themselves going again and get that brain started,” says Tandi Permenter, a teacher for the Jump Start program.
The summer class is also a time to test out new sanitary precautions that will be applied during the school year (i.e. wiping down laptops and wearing face coverings).
On the first day of school, all 3,300 district students will get a face shield. DeLacy says he hopes the shield will last all year, but they do have extras.
“If they’re bringing their hands up to their face it’s worse than if they didn’t have a mask on at all,” DeLacy explains.
The shields will cover a student’s mouth, nose, but also their eyes – which masks don’t. They will also help with communication.
“We do have a hearing-impaired program in the district,” he says. “So, those students rely on lip-reading.”
DeLacy says teachers will re-evaluate students at the beginning of the year to determine which students need more help catching up from remote learning in the spring.
Students head back to school on Aug. 17th. Kindergarten through 5th grade go back in-person full time, while 7th through 12th grade will follow a hybrid model.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
