As the new school year gets underway for the Greene County School District, there isn’t a lot of changes to how the year begins from how last year ended.

Superintendent Tim Christensen says they are not requiring masks, including on buses; along with no contact tracing or quarantining of students. He points out there will not be a remote learning option for students like there was last year.

“Teachers 3rd-12th grade use Google Classroom, so they’ve got all the materials on Google Classroom. And 2nd grade on down use Seesaw. Whether a student tests positive for COVID-19 and have to be out of school, whether they go on a trip, doesn’t matter what it is, we’ll treat of those the same basically that the expectation is that students access Google Classroom or Seesaw, and with the expectation that they complete homework and do the things they need to do.”

Even though there will not be contact tracing if there is a positive case found in the district, Christensen explains the process whenever there is a positive case. 

“If someone does test positive (for COVID-19), they’re going to have to be out for ten days from the onset of symptoms. We will notify the public. We’ll put out an announcement that we had a positive case in a particular building. We’re not going to say a classroom or anything of that nature.”

The Greene County School Board recently approved the district’s Return to Learn plan on August 18th, which outlines all of these stipulations.