PALATKA, Fla. – Palatka High School students on Thursday picked up their class schedules and Chromebooks ahead of the first day of the school on Monday.
Principal J.T. Stout said students can expect to see lots of changes and safety measures, like block scheduling to reduce time in the halls.
“Right now, we don’t have one-way hallways because our campus is so big. And it just doesn’t make sense, especially if we’re in CDC guidelines, following the masks, then we’re OK to walk in the hallways,” Stout said.
At lunch, students will pre-order their meals through an app to limit lines in the cafeteria and they’ll face one way when seated.
“Eventually, we’ll probably end up doing a seating chart for the cafeteria so that J.T. will sit in the spot every day,” Stout said. “So if we do have an outbreak of COVID and we need to do any kind of contact tracing, I know that J.T. was here and I know who is on each side of him.”
News4Jax was told not every student is returning to school, so that means some teachers will teach classes virtually.
Palatka High has digital learning classrooms that will also be streamed to other high schools in the county.
Their instructors are teaching with state-of-the-art technology.
They will instruct not only the students in that classroom, who are socially distanced and wearing masks, but also for students at different county high schools.
Inside regular classrooms, teacher Kelly Faircloth said her students will space out and wear masks, but her interaction with students won’t change.
“Sometimes that means that I am face to face, I’m on their level, I’m making you feel comfortable. This can’t stop because a student has to feel loved, supported and safe in their environment if we expect them to adapt,” Faircloth said.
Even in the hands-on courses, like the school’s automotive classes, News4Jax was told they’ll wear gloves, masks and sanitize often because instructors said it’s about getting students the tools that they need.
“If they’re sitting at home, waiting on this pandemic to disappear, they’re not getting skills. In a safe way, by all means — we aren’t going to do it if isn’t safe,” said automotive instructor David Garison.
Custodians will clean classrooms multiple times a day.
The school purchased disinfectant sprayers and air purifiers, as well.
“Good leaders adopt guidelines that save lives, and we’re thankful that we have a principal here at Palatka High School that has done just that,” Faircloth said.