Two years after the COVID-19 pandemic, Noxon Schools are further loosening their restrictions. As part of the Noxon School District Safe Return to School and Continuity of Services Plan, the Noxon administration and board continue to revise their plan to stay current. The process, two weeks ago, during the regular monthly school board meeting, saw the school drop restrictions even more. The administration advised that the school will only shut down due to an inability to fill staffing positions, among other things. “We’re becoming more permanent with how we respond,” said Noxon Schools Superintendent Dave Whitesell at that meeting.

According to Rhonda Horner, the Kindergarten through eighth grade principal, “We have a fairly healthy substitute list,” said K-8 Principal Rhonda Horner. She explained that the large list helps to mitigate the need to close. “Sometimes we have to be creative,” clarified Horner. According to her, in circumstances of need, they may fill vacant positions with administrators, the school nurse or counselor, but their goal is to remain open.

According to Whitesell, just two weeks ago, Noxon was without eight teachers and was still able to cover classes. He explained, with a school the size of Noxon, that is impressive. “We do what we have to, to get the kids learning,” Horner stated. “You never know, that’s why we put in the flexibility month by month.”

Another change is that students can now be moved to remote learning day by day. This contrasts how the plan was in the past, where parents had to elect if their children would remain out of school quarter by quarter. Remote learning was a concern continuously brought up by the public during the board meeting. “Remote learning is ineffective compared to learning in school,” said community member Connor Reishus. His remark was echoed by several other public comments.

“We have been downsizing out restrictions from the beginning of the year,” Whitesell explained. “We started this year considerably more open” compared to last year. “We plan to be more surgical with how we approach individual cases.” He suggested that parents not send students to school if they are sick. The school is telling the teachers the same thing if they are sick.

“We’re losing our restrictions and we’re trying to get the kids more opportunities, but we have to be aware there are kids with needs, and we need to be flexible in meeting those,” added Horner. When asked about the lessening restrictions, Horner explained that is the general direction they are going because “that’s the trend in the state.”

The Noxon return to school plan is available online at noxonschools.com.