The Kearney School District released a video statement on Saturday, June 27th, to update parents about the plans for staff and students to return to school in the fall. In the video Dr. Bill Nicely explained that the district is developing a plan that has involved staff, faculty, parents and health care officials.

*Nicely said he expects the re-entry plan to be completed and released by July 17th*

“That plan is in process, and we expect that plan to be completed and released by July 17,” Nicely said in his video statement.

Nicely also stated that there will be safety precautions and methodologies for security so school classes can resume in the fall. One of those methods will be a virtual option.

This spring when the school district was forced to close in-person classes, virtual learning was implemented. Although the roll-out wasn’t perfect for families and staff, Nicely said the virtual option will look different in the fall than it did this spring.

“We’ve learned a lot more,” Nicely states. “It’s certainly going to be more rigorous and look more like it did on-site”.

To accommodate the virtual option, the Kearney School Board approved funds at their June meeting to purchase additional Chromebooks for every student in the school district.

Earlier this month the district released the results of parent and staff surveys on the subject of opening schools for the 2020-21 school year. The survey found that 78.9% of families were comfortable with some or no concerns, while only 7.9% were not at all comfortable. In a follow up question, 19.5% of families said they want to consider virtual learning provided by the district, and 1.6% said they will be homeschooling their students. The majority of families (78.9%) stated they intend to send students to in-person classes.

Top concerns sited in this survey included: challenges with social distancing, parents’ ability to help students learn virtually, and ability of disinfecting materials.

Surveys and other planning information can be found on the school district’s website.

KPGZ News - Brian Watts contributed to this report