What should secondary students expect when returning to school?

As Rochester Public Schools prepares to welcome secondary students back to full in-person learning in two week’s time, principals of four RPS secondary schools Tuesday evening gave the School Board a look at what students can expect the new school experience to look like. 

Much of the district’s plans for secondary students mirror the guidelines in place for elementary schoolers: face coverings are required, of course, desks will be spaced six feet apart (where space allows; if not, desks will be three feet apart); and Plexiglas will be installed in most classrooms.

Principals said they worked together to draft similar strategies for each school, but exact guidelines would change to fit the student body and layout of the school — and they would likely change slightly as the year progresses.

“There’s a lot of things we don’t know yet, because we haven’t seen our students yet,” said Century High School interim principal Nancy Denzer, noting the first all-staff planning day was set for Wednesday.

While students will be able to use their own personal locker, the locker rooms — primarily used for gym class — will stay closed. Passing time will also be more heavily scrutinized, with extra staff assigned to hallways to keep students from gathering outside classrooms and in common areas.

Some of the biggest day-to-day changes for secondary students, though, may be seen in the lunchroom; all students will be required to go through a “check-in” system every day during lunchtime, found by scanning a QR code. Gymnasiums, auditoriums, and other large, open spaces will be used as overflow areas.

Each school will hold an orientation day for students entering the building for the first time — whether they be sixth-graders, high school freshmen, or students that joined RPS after the pandemic first hit. For the newest middle schoolers, those principals said they would build in extra time each day specifically for hand-washing and sanitizing.

“It’s a subtlety that’s a little more common in elementary schools, but we want to be intentional in making sure our sixth and seventh graders are washing their hands thoroughly, before things like lunch,” said Friedell Middle School Principal Levi Lundak.

There was no conversation among board members about postponing the return to in-person learning, as Olmsted County’s Covid-19 case numbers have begun a slight uptick in recent days. Olmsted County’s 14-day case rate per 100,000 — the key statistic districts across the state have been asked to monitor — sits at 16.53, per the latest available data from the last week of February. 

Isaac Jahns is a Rochester native and a 2019 graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism. He reports on politics, business and music for Med City Beat.