NEW MADRID, Mo. - It has been almost 10 months since the hallways of the school buildings across the New Madrid County R-1 School District were filled with all its students. But on Feb. 1, the district will be one step closer as it moves to what school leaders are calling “Eagle Days 4 All.”
Since August in an effort to keep students safe and stem the spread of coronavirus, the school district has divided the student population with half attending on Mondays and Tuesdays and half on Thursdays and Fridays. The new plan will return students to the classrooms on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, leaving Wednesdays set aside for virtual learning and cleaning classrooms.
Dr. Sam Duncan, superintendent, said he, school leaders and teachers began discussing the four-day school plan late last fall. Just recently its implementation was announced to enable parents to plan for the new schedule.
“Everyone is hungry to be back,” Duncan said. “There is a certain level of excitement about doing something really normal.”
With more students on buses and in the classrooms and hallways, Duncan said there will be some changes as they strive to keep students and faculty safe.
“We are already masking but the price we will have to pay is that we have to ask students to wear masks more often and we will continue with temperature checks,” Duncan said.
Duncan emphasized the plan is just for the spring semester. He added he hoped the four-day plan can provide a “segway” for the return of attendance five days a week.
According to the superintendent, the R-1 District currently has more than 100 students taking all their classes virtually. He praised the teachers and their efforts to provide distance learning.
In addition, he said, the district has carefully followed student progress throughout the first semester.
“Our mid-year bench marks were strong. We even showed gains in literacy at the elementary level,” Duncan said. “The teachers have poured everything they have into making us be successful - whether on-line or in-person - to keep students moving forward academically.”
It has been a learning situation for everyone, he acknowledged.
“We have learned how to educate students when they are in quarantine,” Duncan said. “But there is no substitute for being in the classroom with the teacher.”