Churchill County to open schools Aug. 25

The Churchill County School Board voted Wednesday to open schools on Aug. 25 after discussing the district’s plans for almost three hours.

Trustees will have 10 days to study the various options and then vote on the best plan for the school district on Monday, July 27 at 5:30 p.m. at the administrative building.

Superintendent Summer Stephens presented an in-depth outline of what the school district faces and how the administration and teachers will be able to provide a safe education for more than 3,300 students.

Stephens said school districts must come up with a plan before students return of the 2020-21 calendar year. According to Nevada’s Department of Education guidelines, each district must include fully remote instruction, a hybrid option and a fully open plan. Stephens said the budget will have an impact on what the school district decides, good or bad.

“What we decide today could be different tomorrow,” she said.

With Churchill County’s development of a reopening plan, Stephens said the district relied on input from 76 members of the license and classified staff and district leadership; association representatives; external partners such as Naval Air Station Fallon, the Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribe; the city of Fallon; Western Nevada College; and many others. Stephens said between June 28 to July 3, the district received 1,513 survey responses.

Stephens pointed out there’s a concern for additional cost to implement the plan, but she said health and safety are the guiding principles. Additional guidelines involving health and safety are coming from NDOE directives, state health officials, Centers For Disease Control and American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines and other states’ reopening plans.

The district’s website offers additional information on the reopening plan:

https://sites.google.com/churchi…/reopeningchurchillcsd/home.