DuBois Area School Board learns of the health and safety plan for the coming school year by Glenn Schuckers

The regular July meeting of the DuBois Area School Board opened with a presentation of the Health and Safety Plan for 2021-2022 school year by Superintendent Wendy Benton. The presentation outlined the details of what the District plans to do in the coming year.

Benton began by giving a brief overview of what had been done in the past year, stating that the coming year will see a continuation of the successful programs instituted in 2021.

As part of the program to improve sanitation, the carpeting in all schools is in the process of being removed since cleaning hard flooring is more effective than cleaning carpeting. That process is continuing and will be competed by 2022.

In addition, the district has purchased sprayers that will be used to sanitize hard surfaces more efficiently, along with increased ventilation where it was needed. The district has also been removing all water fountains and is replacing them with water bottle filling stations. Benton said that all students will be encouraged to carry personal water bottles and that bottles will be provided to any students who need them.

She added that all buildings and facilities are receiving a deep cleaning, and that “Health-wise, things are really looking very good.” She also said that when schools open later this summer, they will follow whatever guidelines are provided from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

Along those lines, students will not be required to wear face coverings in the buildings, but while on any public transportation, including school buses and vans, those coverings will be required. She urged the public to cooperate with those guidelines, including having bus drivers wear face coverings but only when the buses are occupied. When driving an empty bus, face coverings will not be required.

Following the presentations, the board went on to the regular meeting. Since three members, Sam Armagost, Larry Salone and Gilbert Barker, were absent, the remaining six members voted to appoint member Bob Wachob as president pro temp to chair the meeting. During that agenda, the board approved all of the routine items including requests to send elementary students and chaperons from all four elementary schools to the Elk Country Visitor Center. The trips will be scheduled during the regular school year

A number of extracurricular positions was also approved as were department chairpersons for departments at the high school and middle school.