Faced with the never-before-seen rise in positive cases of COVID-19, the government postponed today, Wednesday, the start of face-to-face classes in the schools of the Education deparment.
The governor Pedro Pierluisi He recommended to private schools and universities in the country to abide by the new calendar for the school semester. These decisions do not impact childcare centers or Head Start.
Here are five important points to keep in mind:
1. Students
– Face-to-face classes for the second semester of school 2021-2022 will begin on Monday, January 24.
– The start was delayed two weeks, since it was scheduled for Tuesday, January 11.
– All students in Puerto Rico, ages five and up, must be vaccinated to go to school in person.
– Everyone under the age of five to 11 must have completed their vaccination series on or before January 31. That means that at least this coming Monday, January 10, everyone should have the first dose. This weekend there will be a massive vaccination event, here you get the details.
– The academic calendar will be extended to comply with the school period. The date the classes would end was not specified.
2. Teachers
– The administrative and teaching staff will begin work on Tuesday, January 18.
– The start was delayed a week, since it was scheduled to start on Monday, January 10.
– As students arrive in classrooms, school personnel must prepare the sites and become familiar with the new protocols of the Health Department.
– All teaching and non-teaching staff in schools in Puerto Rico must get the booster dose on or before Saturday, January 15.
3. Special education
– As of Tuesday, January 11, special education therapies are authorized following the protocols already established.
4. Protocols
The new health protocol for the country’s schools includes, among other things, the following:
– Weekly random tests.
– Change definition of a completely vaccinated person, to add the booster.
– Recommendation of distancing; those sites unable to do so should increase the amount of random testing.
– Recommendation for teachers to change rooms and not students.
– School canteens should serve take away food.
– Sports activities should be avoided in closed and contact places.
– There must be cross ventilation.
– Make the use of home tests more flexible to use in schools and upload the results to the Health Bioportal.
– A census of personnel and their vaccination status will be carried out to ensure compliance with the mandates, and a student census for the same purposes.
5. Virtual classes
– Virtual classes will be available for those students who for medical reasons cannot go to the classroom.
– This modality will be used for groups or teachers who start a quarantine for positive cases to COVID-19.
– There are other scenarios in which virtual teaching will be used as repairs in the schools, among other situations in which it is necessary.
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