PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island will be following five metrics over the course of the next five weeks to determine the nature of its reopening of schools, which is set for Aug. 31, Gov. Gina M. Raimondo announced during her coronavirus briefing on Wednesday afternoon.
These reopening metrics include: statewide readiness, municipal readiness, testing readiness, supply readiness and operational readiness. These metrics were decided by a new panel of experts and advisers alongside R.I. Department of Health Director Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, which she said included pediatricians.
“This is a tough one. Getting schools ready is a tough one,” said Raimondo.
Raimondo said that Rhode Island must be in Phase 3 or better for schools to reopen in person, each school has to have a comprehensive plan with multiple contingencies, safety precautions must be in place, there must be safe transportation plans, plans for high-risk students and teachers with pre-existing conditions, tests must have a return rate of 48-72 hours, and every school needs to have a sufficient supply of cleaning supplies and masks for every teacher and student.
“If we don’t check those boxes, we won’t allow it,” said Raimondo of the school reopening readiness metrics.
By Friday, Raimondo said all plans for each district in Rhode Island will be posted and by Monday, there will be additional health guidelines and protocols for each school and district on the ReopeningRI.com website. During the governor’s next coronavirus briefing on Aug. 5, Raimondo said she will announce additional information regarding testing and transportation for schools.
Final decisions will be made about reopening schools by each city and town the week of Aug. 16, according to Raimondo.
“The metrics put health and safety first,” said Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education for the State of Rhode Island Angelica Infante-Green, who announced a new website, Back2SchoolRI.com, that will post guidelines and updates on reopening schools.
Raimondo said that in two months, 75% of childcare in Rhode Island had opened. With more than 8,000 children enrolled and 1,000 adult employees, a total of 12 positive cases have been reported among the children and 14 among staff. In every instance, Raimondo said the cases were caught quickly and only one outbreak occurred.
Alexa Gagosz is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Gagosz@PBN.com.
