by: Katie Garceran
Posted: / Updated:
TOEPKA (KSNT)– As students in the USD-501 prepare to go back to school on January 5th, the educators and teachers are preparing just as much as they are.
During the break, every school in the 501 district received new HVAC filters with air purifiers in every classroom in the schools. These air purifiers work hard to remove 80-95% of COVID particles in the air within 20- 30 minutes. Not only will this help with COVID, but it will also help children who have allergies and asthma.
“We have updated all of our HVAC systems in all of our buildings with an air purifying system that addresses any concerns with COVID and any other purifications that might be in the air,” the principal of Jardine Elementary School, Angela Pomeroy said.
On top of this, schools across the district have established something they call “Test to Learn” and “Test to Play”. This is not new this semester but is fairly new the district has implemented.
If a child comes into close contact with someone who is positive for COVID and is not yet experiencing any symptoms, they are eligible to receive a rapid test at school before they come in. If the test is negative then they will be allowed into the school to continue learning.
“If you meet certain requirements, you can come and test every morning and get a COVID test on-site, and obviously if you’re negative you can stay and learn, and we can do that every day during that quarantine period where you might traditionally have to do or not,” principal of Jardine Middle School, Mike Haire said. “We just have a lot of safety things in place to ensure that kids still have the opportunity to continue to learn. “
The rapid tests and PCR tests are provided to the school by KDHE and they claim to have a supply that should last them months.
As excited as the educators and teachers of USD-501 are, they still are following CDC guidelines and have a mandatory mask mandate still in place to ensure everyone’s safety.