Students kept their distance and had their temperatures taken at the door as they returned to a reopened Willow Creek School in rural Montana Thursday, CNN reported.
The state’s governor allowed schools to reopen on May 7, and the K-12 public school, which serves about 55 students, opened its doors after 76% of parents said in a survey that they wanted classes to resume for at least a few weeks, CNN reported.
Gallatin County, where the school is located, had seen one coronavirus death but had no active case of COVID on Friday, according to CNN.
“They’re incredibly excited. They are so glad to be back,” Erika Wahl, the mother of two students, told CNN. “They miss their teachers, they miss their friends.”
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Students are not required to wear masks but the school is reducing traffic in the hallway by alternating when classes are released. The building is disinfected regularly, distancing marks have been placed on the playgrounds, and students will use the bathroom one at a time, Bonnie Lower, the principal and superintendent, told CNN.
Also in Montana, students in the Libby School District‘s combined middle/high school are meeting face-to-face with teachers for individual tutoring sessions, NPR reported.
Students are encouraged to wear masks while the school has installed several hand-sanitizing stations. “We have breaks in between scheduled appointments so we can clean and air out the smell of cleaner,” Superintendent Craig Barringer told NPR.
Schools reopening next door in Idaho
Payette High School, in the Payette School District, has reopened in a limited capacity that allows students to call teachers to make appointments for tutoring sessions in the gymnasium, KTVB-TV reported.
More from DA: What social-emotional needs will students return with?
“Kids are screened when they come in, the areas will be sanitized and all that sort of thing,” Jake Williams, principal of the Idaho school, told KTVB. “We ask a few basic questions like if they’ve had any symptoms, we do take their temperature in order to keep everyone safe.”
Students will sit at desks with six feet and a Plexiglas barrier between them and the teacher. Teachers and staff, but not students, will be required to wear masks and gloves, the station reported.
The district launched the sessions to help students who were falling behind or who had not picked up homework packets, according to KTVB,
A private school in a more urbanized area of Idaho also reopened last week with shorter days and without busing, cafeteria lunches or assemblies, CNN reported.
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