Maury County Public Schools reinstates pre-pandemic visitor policy
Maury County Public Schools has almost entirely reverted to its pre-pandemic visitors policy as the community experiences an increased transmission of COVID-19 in its schools and the greater community.
As the school district previously limited visitation of non-essential personnel due to the ongoing pandemic, the school system is now allowing visitors to enter school buildings during the school day, reverting to a policy that has been in place since 2017.
“It has been updated to reflect the current situation,” said Jack Cobb, the school district’s director of communications.
The policy states: “Except on occasions, such as school programs, athletic events, open house and similar public events; all visitors will report to the school office when entering the school and will sign a log book. Authorization to visit elsewhere in the building or on the school campus will be determined by the principal or designee. Guest passes shall be issued for all persons other than students and employees of the school.”
It also states: “In order to maintain the conditions and atmosphere suitable for learning, no other person shall enter onto the grounds or into the school buildings during the hours of student instruction except students assigned to that school, the staff of the school, parents of students, and other persons with lawful and valid business on the school premises.”
The transition was approved by the Maury County Public Schools Board of Education during its monthly January meeting.
“Before, we were limiting non-essential visitors,” Cobb said. “We were encouraging all essential visitors to conduct self-screening for symptoms before entering the building and advised them of the district's COVID-19 mitigation strategies, such as social distancing and face coverings.”
The update follows concerns after Dane Peachee, a Columbia resident and a father of a second grader and sixth grader at MCPS, called for more access to his children during the school day.
He argued that the school district’s decision to limit access to visitors, including parents, went against the school district’s own policy, which states that the public school system’s goal is to involve parents as much as possible.
Peachee’s statements were met with applause from fellow parents and educators during the meeting.
In recognition of the ongoing health crisis, the district is returning to its standard policy under the following guidelines.
Schools may adopt a reservation system for family school lunch visits that allow for the least disruptive and safest environment possible to eat with students.
Schools may use a signup tool like Signup Genius. All visitors for lunch will have designated seating.
Schools may adopt a check-in/check-out procedure for visitors volunteering in classrooms. For example, “All classroom volunteers must schedule ahead of time with the school on days they are available to help.”
After-school events that are not related to sports should be staggered as much as possible to help with crowd control and other safety concerns. After-school events that are not related to sports should be staggered as much as possible to help with crowd control and other safety concerns.
“Things are not completely back to normal, as Covid-19 may be something that we have to live with moving forward,” Cobb said.
The school district continues to encourage social distancing and hygiene to prevent the spread of illness.
Reach Mike Christen at mchristen@c-dh.net. Follow him on Twitter at @MikeChristenCDH and on Instagram at @michaelmarco. Please consider supporting his work and that of other Daily Herald journalists by subscribing to the publication.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Herald: Maury County Public Schools lifts most COVID-19 restrictions
