Union School District: Moving forward this school year
By Paul Hall on Thursday, August 19th, 2021 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
UNION, OR – (Information provided by the Union School District) Moving forward, we will continue work on the district “Safe Return to In-Person Instruction and Continuity of Services Plan” that will include the safety measures we plan to take this school year to combat the effects of Covid-19. Again, while under the current mandate from the state, all staff, students, and visitors are mandated by the state to wear masks while indoors during the school day or when on the bus or on field trips. On a positive note, masks will not be required when we are outside, we will be returning to a traditional high school schedule (7 period day) as well as a traditional sports schedule with no limits on attendance for these activities. Furthermore, we will have unrestricted physical education and recess along with complete use of the expanded cafeteria with updated heating and ventilation systems district wide. We will also be having a traditional in-service with professional development and the addition of woodshop and construction classes for high school students. Ultimately, our plan will be closely reviewed by our local health authorities and by our school board. As we all realized last year, our best laid plans can change very quickly if there is a local outbreak. We will follow the same protocols we did last year for exclusion and quarantine should there be a local outbreak. Our goal is to make this year as normal as possible for students, staff, and parents.
School does not begin until September 7th. Just like last year, we expect these guidelines and mandates to change or be adjusted over the next few weeks. Please have patience, compassion and understanding with us. As changes occur we will keep you posted. Please know that the district will continue to work closely with other superintendents and our local legislators to advocate for returning as much local control as we can to local school districts. If the state returns local control to school districts, we as a district have heard our community and will make masks optional as soon as that is available.
