Idaho State Board of Education approved minimum criteria for public school districts and charter schools to resume operations at their April 16 meeting. Prior to releasing this criteria, all schools in Bonner County decided to continue soft closure in grades K-12 for the remainder of the school year. Both Lake Pend Oreille School District and West Bonner School District have expressed hesitancy in reopening, with less than two months left in the school year.

Formal rollout of criteria for reopening schools operations before the end of the COVID-19 pandemic was prepared through numerous consultations with state and public health and school officials around the state, including Gov. Brad Little’s K-12 Emergency Council. This criteria was created to give districts with limited or no novel coronavirus cases the chance to bring students back on campus for in-person instruction and give students the opportunity for certain approved extracurricular activities and events.

The Idaho State Board of Education’s minimum re-entry criteria requires the following standards to be met:

1. No stay-home orders or extensive closures of businesses can be in place, or other statewide or local social distancing restrictions. This criteria provides few exceptions to the rule.

2. A minimum of 14 days has passed following the peak of state infection, which will be determined by the State Department of Health and Welfare. Schools located in counties with no community spread at the time state restrictions are lifted are eligible to have the 14 consecutive day criteria waved with local public health district approval.

3. The local public health district must review and approve school cleaning and disinfection protocols.

4. The re-entry plan must be approved by the local school board of trustees and must meet minimum school protocols.

School protocol requirements, as issued by Idaho State Board of Education, include implementing cleaning and disinfection protocol, identifying a plan for medically vulnerable staff, identifying a plan for staff whose duties require close contact with peers and an attendance plan for staff and students who do not feel comfortable returning to school or have symptoms of COVID-19.

Requirements also include a communications plan for informing the parents and staff of the response plans and policies to manage COVID-19, verifying a contact for each school district to relay communication effectively and reviewing their reopening plan with local public health officials.

The State Board unanimously approved this criteria at the April 16 meeting.

“These criteria are the result of a tremendous amount of input from stakeholders, including superintendents in the various regions, the teachers association, the school administrators association and the school boards association,” Board Member Dr. Linda Clark said in Idaho State Board of Education’s April 16 press release. “I think it is a very strong document that will provide appropriate guidance for our districts that wish to reopen.”

The State Board warned the public that re-entry criteria is subject to change. Additional criteria will also be considered for the fall start of next year, depending on health conditions at that time.

Aly De Angelus can be reached by email at adeangelus@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @AlyDailyBee.