Rhode Island Gears Up For In-Person School In The Fall

PROVIDENCE, RI — As Rhode Island gets ready to enter phase three of reopening in the coming weeks, plans are already underway to make in-person school possible in the fall. Next month, all districts will be required to send the Department of Education tiered reopening plans to ensure continuity of learning regardless of the coronavirus pandemic situation in the fall, Gov. Gina Raimondo said.

On June 10, Raimondo announced that it was the state's intention to reopen schools in the fall. Before the statewide first day of school Aug. 31, a lot of logistics need to be addressed, she said, including what to do if there is an outbreak, transportation, cleaning protocols and more.

Full guidelines for schools will be published on the state's reopening website by Friday night, Raimondo said. All districts will be required to submit plans to the Department of Education by July 17 addressing how different scenarios: mostly in-person instruction, a hybrid model or mostly distance learning. The department will then review these plans and provide feedback by the end of the month. District leaders will also need to offer budget information showing how they will "creatively" finance required changes, Raimondo said.

Masks will not be required on elementary- and middle-school students, Raimondo said, saying it is "not feasible" to do so. High school student may be required to wear masks. In elementary schools, where social distancing is far less likely, children will be kept in stable groups of 30 or fewer. In areas where these groups might overlap, groups will be required to stay at least 14 feet away from each other.

The governor reiterated that it will be absolutely essential for students to stay home if they are at all sick, even a minor cases of the "sniffles." Instead, children will be able to learn from home on these days, as well as on snow days. In the case of a coronavirus outbreak in a school, students will move to distance learning until it is safe to return to school.

Patch editor Scott Souza contributed to this report.