AUBURN — The School Committee will vote on back-to-school recommendations at its next meeting Aug. 18.
The district’s Health and Safety Committee is working on updating the plan to reflect new guidelines from state and federal officials, committee Chairwoman Celeste Beaudet said Wednesday.
She told the School Committee the recommendations will incorporate new guidelines for social distancing and masking.
The Lewiston School Committee on Monday approved a controversial plan that makes mask-wearing in schools optional.
Beaudet did not reveal what the Auburn committee might recommend. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that all school districts require masks.
“We’re digging deeper into the guidelines,” Beaudet said. “Whatever plan we bring forward, we understand it may be different (as the school year progresses). We will be ready to make adjustments.”
One adjustment already made is that the original plan called for 6 feet of social distancing in schools. That guideline has been dropped, she said.
“Distancing should not prohibit a full return to school,” she said. Under the current plan, schools will fully reopen in the fall. The district adopted a part in-person, part remote instruction model for the past school year because of the pandemic.
Beaudet noted that the district will have to comply with a federal mandate requiring face coverings on public transportation, including school buses.
The Health and Safety Committee is composed of school administrators, teachers, parents, nurses and community members, including an epidemiologist, she said.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
