ST. LOUIS — Hancock Place administrators set up rows of chairs, each spaced six feet apart, each outfitted with a personal hand sanitizer. This is the setup for a Thursday substitute teacher training session, and it is an initial part of their plan to keep people healthy in the new school year.
"We would all love to be in a situation where we can go mask-free, but we're just not quite there yet, Superintendent Kevin Carl said.
Carl says they've made a lot of progress over the past year, saying "this time last year, we weren't even talking about bringing kids back into school."
But everyone's keyword last year — "flexibility" — is instead replaced with "consistency."
"Right now the delta variant is in tracking students at a far greater level than we saw in the past, and of course anyone under 12 is still not vaccination eligible so we need to take that into consideration," Carl said. "For me, it's about consistency, the least amount of disruptions, and getting students in front of their teachers each and every day."
Other districts are following suit. Parkway, Rockwood, Kirkwood all announced Wednesday they will also require masks.
EducationPlus holds weekly conference calls with area superintendents Wednesdays. On Thursdays, they check in with physicians.
"I don't wanna be in a mask. Kids don't want to be in mask. But if it helps us return kids to in-person learning then I think we may have to accept that for a little while especially when medical experts are saying that that's the best way," EdPlus's Paul Ziegler said.
Ziegler said the doctors recommended mask usage as kids prepared for a third school year under the ongoing pandemic.
"I would say that our 3- and 4-year-olds might have been the role models for mask-wearing. So some of our youngest learners we're probably our best mask wearers," Carl added.
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