LANCASTER, S.C. — Lancaster and Fort Mill school districts will be starting up Monday — both with different strategies to keep staff and students protected from the coronavirus.
"There is a laundry list of things we’re doing differently this school year,” said Joe Burk with Fort Mill schools.
Burk said their coronavirus protections start with buses.
“We will have students and staff wearing masks on the buses, protocols on how the seating happens on the buses, [and] windows down for ventilation," Burk said.
Burk said the district has put coronavirus safety measures throughout the school, like barriers on desks, social distancing markers on the ground, and an isolation room for sick kids.
“If we had a student who started to present symptoms during the day, they have specific protocols and processes they're going to follow that would move the student to an isolation room," Burk said.
In Lancaster schools, students will be temperature checked upon entry, have arrows guiding movement, and won’t be allowed a locker.
“Schools are designed to socialize kids and now we’re going against that and it’s just hard," said Indian Land principal Chris Thorpe.
Thorpe says the cafeteria will be socially distanced, desks will be spread, and classrooms will be much smaller with no shared materials.
“These are my kids, this is my family," Thorpe said. "When you look at kids as if they're your family, you want to make sure you’ve done everything you can.”
Even with best efforts, though, surrounding school districts have already had COVID-19 cases and technology issues. Burk says they’re not worried about that yet.
“Right now, we’re feeling like we’re at a pretty good starting point, but we’re going to continue watching what happens to those other districts as well as what happens in our district and make changes as needed,” Burk said.