RUMFORD — Regional School Unit 10 officials will decide Aug. 7 on plans for resuming classes either in person or online, or both, Superintendent Deb Alden told directors Monday night.
The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention and state officials have announced a color-coded system indicating the level of COVID-19 infection in each county. Green indicates low risk, allowing students to return to school using masks and other safety protocols; yellow indicates moderate risk, allowing a combination of in-person and online learning; and red indicates high risk, allowing remote learning only for all students.
The district includes Rumford, Mexico, Roxbury, Buckfield, Hartford, Sumner and Hanover.
Four committees are researching back-to-school issues. The district website has a Returning to School link with updates.
Even if students can return to schools this year, the district needs to have remote learning plans in place, Alden said. Parents who want to teach at home because of the coronavirus will be allowed to, she said.
“We intend to have a process,” Alden said.
The superintendent said the federal coronavirus relief bill will provide about $600 to $800 per student for items or work related to the pandemic, which may include fixing ventilation in buildings, adding Plexiglas dividers and buying new software for health check-ins. The money must be used by the end of December.
In other business, the board recognized Directors Janet Brennick of Mexico, Travis Palmer and Kathy Sutton, both of Rumford, and Chad Culleton of Hartford, who were reelected by write-in votes July 14.
Dan Hodge of Rumford was also elected by write-in votes.
The board approved chess as a co-curricular activity for students at Mountain Valley Middle School and Meroby Elementary School, both in Mexico, and Rumford Elementary School. Meroby Principal Kim Fuller said about 20 students from the Mexico schools have participated in the program.
“We cut a lot of these extracurricular things from the budget,” middle school Principal Ryan Casey said, “as we have the after-school program mostly, so lots of these things haven’t been replaced and we haven’t found avenues for these kids that miss out on the after-school program.”
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