Lee’s Summit decides to let only some students return to in-person classes amid COVID
The youngest students in the Lee’s Summit school district will be heading back into the classroom next week.
The Lee’s Summit school board on Tuesday voted 6 to 1 for students in kindergarten through sixth grade to shift out of the virtual learning model they have been in since Nov. 23 and return to school buildings five days a week. Pre-K will attend four days.
Lee’s Summit had switched all students to online after temporarily closing two elementary schools because so many students and teachers were out due to the coronavirus.
Before then, pre-K through sixth grade students were doing school in person full time. Middle schools and high schools had classes online some days and in person on others.
The board decided in November to revisit the idea of returning younger children to full-time in-person classes by Jan 11. The board will meet Jan. 14 to discuss whether older students should return to school buildings starting on Jan. 25.
At Tuesday’s special meeting, some board members asked if students could be spaced at least 3 feet apart in all classrooms to help prevent spread of the virus. Megan Marshall, who was the only member to vote against returning the students to school buildings, expressed concern that officials couldn’t guarantee that social distancing for all students.
“I think we can all agree that kids need to be in the classroom. It is where they learn the best, where they thrive the best,” Marshall said. “It is whether they have a safe environment to come back to.”
Some district leaders said because school buildings and class sizes vary, they could not guarantee 3 feet social distancing for everyone. But Superintendent David Buck said that except for on some full buses, he felt confident that distance could be maintained. He said school leaders will review spaces this week and report findings to the board by Monday.
Ryan Murdock, board president, said, “the goal is to get kids back into the classroom. I think definitely that by Jan. 11 we will be social distancing the best that we can.”
In a separate action the board also voted to increase pay for substitute teachers by 15%, giving them another $100 to $115 a day.
Substitutes in Lee’s Summit have been paid at the same rate for the last 15 years. The pay was lower than in some surrounding districts. The pay raise is expected to help attract substitutes to Lee’s Summit as COVID-19 has increased competition to hire them.
This story was originally published January 5, 2021 at 8:43 PM.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect list of the grade levels that will return to school buildings next week.
