FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. – At Emma Love Hardee Elementary School in Fernandina Beach, the name of the game for going back to school Tuesday is playing it safe. Principal Rebecca Smith gave News4Jax a walking tour of what students will expect on a typical day.
Students will come back to a lot of the same safety measures they grew familiar with last year. While masks are not one of them, they’re strongly encouraged. Signs are posted throughout the school.
As Smith demonstrated, cleanliness is encouraged before students even enter the building. Once they are dropped off -- by car or bus -- they’re met with hand sanitizer stations.
“They’ll go up, they’ll get their sanitation, their sanitizer and then they’ll walk into the cafeteria,” Smith said.
Once inside, the students are led into the “grab-and-go” hallway. This is where they pick up their bagged breakfast. As a precaution, students are told to stay to the right to allow for more space between one another.
“Again, they can get their sanitation,” Smith said. “Then they can go get in line, get their breakfast and go right to class.”
Smith says all classrooms are arranged into cohorts, where students sit together in assigned groups throughout the day. They even use the same sets of supplies to minimize multiple items being passed from student to student.
“That way, we know when we do our contact tracing, we know who they’re sitting next to at all times,” Smith. “Those cohorts have lunch together in the cafeteria as well.”
Cleaning protocols are also very thorough at methodical. Hours after the students and teachers have left for the day, the custodians use an electrostatic disinfectant mister on all high-touch areas in each room. This includes desk and surface tops, doorknobs, and other spots throughout the classrooms. A separate method is used for disinfecting the playground. In all, it takes roughly an hour to disinfect the whole school.
Nassau County has one of the highest infection rates per capita in our area. Smith is paying attention to the numbers and says plans are in place should a student or employee need to go into quarantine. With a new year ahead, Smith says she knows there are gaps to fill, but her hope is students will come to school, be ready to learn and tackle all challenges together.
“I’ll tell you Nassau County, number 1 and number 2, here we go,” Smith said. “So, I think we’re on our way to filling those gaps and push them forward.”
With the pandemic being hard on everyone, including students and their parents, Smith says a guidance counselor and psychologist are always on hand to help if needed.
“They reach out, they help families, they help individual students,” Smith said. “Just get through those times because it has hit some families very hard.”
To take a closer look at Nassau County Schools’ reopening plan, visit: https://www.nassau.k12.fl.us/cms/lib/FL02213748/Centricity/Domain/1097/Return-to-School%20Safety%20Protocols%20and%20Learning%20Options%20NCSD%202021-2022.pdf.