NAMPA, Idaho — Students in the Treasure Valley are heading back to the classrooms as school districts are beginning their school years. The Nampa School District starts classes on Thursday and students will return to campuses for in-person learning.
With COVID-19 cases picking up around the area, parents still might have some concerns about what safety measures the schools are taking.
“We are very aware. We are watching the numbers like everybody else,” Nampa School District Director of Communications and Community Relations Kathleen Tuck said. “We will work with our school board. We’ll continue to monitor those. If any action needs to be taken, we’ll take whatever appropriate action is needed.”
A recent uptick in cases may concern parents. The Department of Health and Welfare reported904 new COVID casesTuesday with Canyon County residents making up over 300 cases just this week.
Students will be fully in person this year and the district is not requiring masks for students or staff. Tuck says there is still room in their online program that is offered for each grade level.
“If you are comfortable wearing a mask, you are certainly welcome to do that and we don’t want anyone to feel like they can't send their kids in a mask or wear one,” Tuck said. “We are still very aware of the safety of our students. That’s the number one priority so we do have a lot of protocols in place where we encourage a lot of the things that were used to hearing over the last year.”
The district is also relying on parents to watch out for their children to see if they have any symptoms and ask them to keep kids home if they feel sick.
“If they don’t feel good, keep them at home. That way they have a chance to recover, and we don’t risk exposing other people because we know in addition to covid there all kinds of illness out there and we want to keep our kids safe,” Tuck said.
If your child does contract COVID-19 while at school, then they must follow the school's quarantine process.
“You would have to stay home for 10 days and come back after ten days if your fever is down without the use of Tylenol or some other aid,” Tuck said. "Right now, we are just hoping for as normal of a school year as possible and we’re trying to be sort of optimistic about how we can control that and make it a really positive year that looks a little more like what people are used to.”
The Boise School District started this week and according to their COVID case tracker, 7 cases have been reported across the district so far.
All schools in the district have COVID-19 mitigation protocols in place including required masks indoors regardless of vaccination status, physical distancing, handwashing, and sanitizing.
