Steve Joel Answers Questions About The Future Of LPS Classes.

Courtesy of lps.org

“We know that any decision we make greatly impacts students, staff, families and our community. This is a decision we do not take lightly,” said Steve Joel, superintendent.

Our media partner 10/11 reported that during a press conference on Friday, Joel said they made this decision primarily because they have many students returning from spring break travels and they want to give them some time to self-monitor for symptoms and the school time to figure out it’s next steps.”This gives us an opportunity to catch our breath and put our plans in place,” Joel said.

They’re asking all 8,000 staff members work Monday through Wednesday to help them get plans in place in case a longer closure is needed. They’ll be using this time to do things like deep cleaning and downloading digital learning materials onto Chromebooks for students in case they move to digital learning.

“We know this is going to be very difficult for a large number of families, and we’ve been reaching out to those families,” Joel said. “They’re working with internet providers on getting internet access for students in case they need to move to online learning. They’re also working on getting meal pick-up sites arranged for students who rely on school meals. We know snow days, we don’t know pandemics,” Steve Joel said.

He said they aren’t going to lose this time, and they’ll do what they can to ensure students stay on pace with their curriculum while also taking actions important for the general health and well-being of the community. Because this is such an unprecedented event, their decisions will be fluid. They plan to make an additional announcement regarding long-term plans next Friday.