Royal School District announces tentative reopening plan

ROYAL CITY — If possible, Royal School District officials plan to have children back in school buildings this fall. Royal Superintendent Roger Trail laid out the district’s plan and answered questions at an online community meeting July 29.

School will start in Royal on Aug. 28. Trail cautioned that while Royal officials hope to be able to return instruction to campus, the ultimate decision will be up to state health officials.

Schools were closed in March to combat the COVID-19 outbreak and remained closed through the rest of the 2019-20 school year.

If classes are allowed on campus, every person entering the buildings or getting on the school bus will have to answer questions about how they’re feeling, Trail said. District officials are working on getting an app that will allow people to answer those questions online.

Everybody entering the building will undergo a temperature check and will have to wear a face mask. Adults and children will be required to follow social distancing rules. Every building will have a designated entrance and exit.

Kindergarten through third-grade students would attend school Monday through Friday, Trail said. District officials are working on ways to configure the fourth- and fifth-grade classes so they can attend school Monday through Friday, he added.

But from sixth grade on up, the classes are too big to fit all students in the available space and still maintain the required social distancing. Trail said sixth-graders, Royal Middle School and Royal High School students will attend class two days per week and work online two days per week. Students will finish the week’s worth of work on the fifth day, and get extra help if they need it. Trail said district officials will try to keep kids from each family on the same schedule.

All families will have the option for all-online instruction, Trail said.

Children who live within the city limits will have to walk to school or be transported by an adult. Trail said that’s a break with past custom and that district officials will revisit transportation in town when the coronavirus pandemic ends.

Buses will pick up kids who live out of town, Trail said. Students will be assigned seats by household and passengers will have to wear masks.

Every Royal student received a personal computer last spring when school was suspended. Trail said Wi-Fi hot spots are available in the parking lot of each school building, and a map of free Wi-Fi hot spots will be available on the district’s website.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.