Green City School District teachers in northern Missouri have been declared as essential workers during the COVID-19 outbreak. Superintendent Tenille Banner tells Missourinet affiliate KWIX in Moberly the declaration gives its teachers three options.
“They can choose to teach from home using a video conferencing method. If they’re not comfortable coming in, they can go ahead and use their sick leave to come in,” she says. “Or if they are comfortable showing no symptoms – totally asymptomatic – they can come in, wear a mask, do some extra social distancing, and still be able to conduct and teach their classes.”
When the district surveyed teachers, they said they wanted to keep classes going and students in school if possible.
“One of our biggest fears was that we would have to shut down school because our teachers would be quarantined and unable to teach – not necessarily because they had tested positive but just because they had been listed as a close contact,” she says.
Banner says so far, the district has had a couple of students quarantined before the school year started, but for now, every student is in class.
By Scott Lunte of Missourinet affiliate KWIX in Moberly
