By Foto News staff
MERRILL – The Merrill Area Public School District (MAPS) Board of Education discussed return to work guidelines regarding COVID-19 during its remote meeting on June 17.
Superintendent Dr. John Sample said the district consulted data from “a variety of resources” when creating the guidelines, including the Lincoln County Health Department, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services , and the Centers for Disease Control.
Sample noted the Wisconsin Department of Instruction would be releasing its guidelines on school reentry on June 22, and the school’s guidelines would be “very fluid” during the month of July. Graduation is scheduled for July 25.
“We don’t want this document to restrict things like graduation,” he stated. “We want to work graduation with the document.”
Sample explained that the document would be “fluid” and is “meant for everyone to return to work safely.”
Sample said teachers will not have the option to work from home unless they have “a reason or a request.” “That of course, is going to go through HR,” he stated, noting that although there will be flexibility for staff to work from home during the summer, the district will have to “tighten up” in August, when students will be getting ready to return.
He added that after July 6, when the district is required to begin keeping public hours, “some kind of schedule” will have to be established regarding when teachers must be on-site and when they can work remotely.
Sample said the district will not require students or staff to wear masks, but the district agreed staff would wear them “when moving in the central office” due to the inability to maintain six feet of social distancing there.