Students need to be in school.

That’s the message Kingfisher Board of Education President Mike Copeland delivered Monday as the board passed the school district’s back-to-school plan at its August regular meeting.

Students haven’t been in a classroom setting since March 12 when they were let out for Spring Break. Soon after, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down schools for good nationwide.

Now schools districts are grappling with the dilemma of returning to the classroom as the 2020-21 school year is set to begin or to begin with distance learning.

KPS students will be given an option to learn virtually this year, but Copeland and others stressed what they personally felt - and through their conversations with community members - was a need to have in-person instruction.

“This was not a policy that was written by some conglomerate that came to us and said ‘This is what you should do,’” Copeland said.

“This policy was derived from local input and that’s what I like about it because we came together as a group and said ‘this is where we need to go.’”

The district released its plan on its website and social media pages last Wednesday (Ed. note: The plan can be found in its entirety by visiting this web address: bit.ly/33crWJo).

“We wanted the public to have a chance to see it and know what we’re discussing tonight,” said Superintendent Jason Sternberger. “We wanted to give them ample time to offer more input.”

“I was actually expecting a few people here to talk about this policy,” Copeland said. I was shocked there wasn’t anyone here.” (Ed. note: Four school patrons spoke at the beginning of the meeting regarding the board’s decision at last month’s meeting to change requirements necessary to earn valedictorian status. A story on those comments will be in the weekend edition.)

As the plan states, students will return to school on Aug. 12, which was the original starting date.

“There’s no right or wrong answer to this. Nobody knows what’s going to happen tomorrow or next week. I wish we did,” Copeland said.

“We’re trying to make a decision that’s best for the 1,500 kids that go to Kingfisher Public Schools. We’ll know in a week, a month or two months if the decision was right or wrong.”

Other districts in the state have delayed the start of school on top of instituting distance learning models for the first nine weeks.

“I can’t tell other school systems what to do. I know that I’ve had more people talk to me that said they want their son or daughter back in the classroom. That’s what this community wants.

“That’s what we’re hearing. And, obviously by the amount of people that didn’t show up tonight to dispute that, I think that’s what most people want. So that’s where we’re going.”

The plan covers a number of policies and practices.

“I think the big thing is obviously the masks,” Sternberger said.

Face coverings will be required in the school buildings.

“We’ve tried to make it where it’s as flexible as possible,” he added.

There will be “reasonable accommodations for younger students, certain job descriptions or classes and conditions that may allow for periods with no face coverings,” the plan states.

Exceptions include eating, naptime, recess, lessons that require lip reading, PE, band, vocal and planning periods.

Face coverings can include masks, gaiters and bandannas, but must also fall in line with regular dress code policy in regards to distracting messaging or imaging.

Students will also be screened upon entering the school daily and there are procedures in place if a temperature of 100.4 or higher is recorded.

Also covered in the plan are safety practices, learning platforms, virtual or distance learning days, electronic devices, attendance, school meals, transportation and extra-curricular activities/gatherings/field trips.

Sternberger said it can be modified.

“This reopening plan would be completely discretionary for everything and any question that we’d want to put in here or add or clarify to the public,” he said.

Sternberger has said numerous times the district has to be prepared to go to virtual or distance learning at a moment’s notice if there’s a spike in numbers.

However, the board hesitated to set a hard number on that.

Sternberger said during flu season, schools generally follow the guideline that if 20 percent of students are out with flu, the districts consider shutting down.

He predicted the district this year will start with around 1,400 students in the classroom.

“I don’t think we need to put a percent on it,” Copeland said. “We need to have a guideline we’re all comfortable with, but if you just put it in hard numbers – let’s say it’s 10 percent, 140 kids – so we’re at 138 and we’re not going to cancel school? I feel 138 kids is enough for me to cancel school.

“It takes a little common sense when you’re looking at something like this. If we need to shut down for three, five or seven days…it’s just going to be a working schedule.”

Added Sternberger to board members: “And this is something I’ll be in contact with you on a daily basis, too.”

Sternberger also said students and teachers will be “practicing” virtual learning during the first week of in-person school.

“They’ll be in school, but they’ll also be preparing and learning what they’ll need to do if we have to go that route,” he said. “That’s where that first week of being in school is so important.”

A sizable portion of the first weeks of school will also be spent getting students caught up.

“I know kids always drop off during the summer. How far do you think they’re going to be behind since we’ve been out of school six months?” asked board member Jim Perdue. “Will it take you guys long to get them back up to speed?”

“It will take a minute, especially at my level,” said Gilmour Elementary Principal Clifford Benson. “That’s what we’re going to focus on to start with other than practicing virtual learning.”

Gilmour hosted a summer school throughout July. Those who attended did so four days a week from 8-11 a.m. Sternberger said teachers reported a noticeable drop-off in learning.

“It was a big drop,” he said. “It was bigger than what the teachers had even anticipated.”

There are also other factors leading to students needing to be in school, Copeland said.

“I think by getting our kids back in the classroom, we’re doing the right thing for the mental side of it,” Copeland said. “There’s a lot of things happening out there that a lot of people don’t want to talk about that are happening to kids that aren’t in school.

“They need to be back in school where the teachers can see them and catch some of those things that are going on and counsel them and help them out.”

About a half-dozen teachers were in attendance, though none spoke during the meeting. Copeland said he respects them showing a desire to get back into the classroom.

“I applaud all the teachers,” Copeland said. “My daughter is a teacher in Oklahoma City Public Schools. I applaud you for being in the classroom because it would be easy to opt out.”

Carly Franks echoed that sentiment and said she hopes the community will show some understanding during an unprecedented time.

“My prayer is for the teachers…that our students and our parents show grace to you guys because it’s all new,” she said. “I hope that they have the patience as we go forward.”

After about a 20-minute discussion, the board voted unanimously to adopt the plan.

Voting for it were Copeland, Franks, Perdue and Dana Golbek. Charles Walker was absent from the meeting.