Columbia Public Schools plan includes clause on switching buildings; won’t require masks

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Columbia Public Schools' plan to re-enter classrooms in the fall includes a clause that students could be assigned to schools other than their own if a building reaches its capacity.

The provision leaves lingering questions among some parents as they face a Tuesday deadline to let the district know whether their children will be educated in person or online.

"If a school building has reached in-person capacity and there is room at another school, the District may assign children to a different school," the plan states.

The clause references Policy-JCB, which states the superintendent or designee may reassign students to a different building for the health, safety or welfare of the student, to maintain discipline and safety in the schools, to better meet the educational needs of the student or to address overcrowding in school.

Michelle Baumstark, CPS spokeswoman said that district included the clause as CPS needs to be able to have that flexibility to meet an individual family's needs should that arise.

Baumstark said this clause is a very individual circumstance and would be a rare occurrence as the district is not anticipating that it will be standard practice.

"We're not planning on redoing attendance areas or any of those types of things," Baumstark said. "The intent is for students to be at their current assigned school and even through the online program they'll still be associated with their home school building."

ABC 17 News spoke Tuesday with a parent who had concerns about this clause.

Brooke McCarty said her family lives within walking distance of her children's school. She said she wants her children to stay with the same classmates from kindergarten through graduation.

"How do they decide with the numbers who will be transferred first?" McCarty said. "Because that is one of my fears. I really would like for my kids to be kept in their home schools if possible."

The district sent out a survey for parents to fill out on Monday with a return deadline of June 30. 

CPS spokeswoman Michelle Baumstark said Tuesday that the district set this date to leave enough time to build all the student schedules and make staffing adjustments before school starts in August.

Baumstark said in any other school year preparations for building schedules for the following school year would have already begun. CPS officials also know that not everyone will meet the deadline, so they will have to take extra time to find those answers.

CPS received nearly 3,000 family responses for the fall survey as of 11 a.m. Tuesday. On Wednesday morning Baumstark said the district has heard from about 20 percent of families, of those less than six percent have decided on CPS's online option.

Baumstark said CPS parents are also asking if the district is requiring students to wear masks during in-person classes this fall.

CPS worked with the Columbia/ Boone County health department before making a determination about masks, but Baumstark said the district cannot require masks, but that they encourage students and teachers to wear them.

"It's very very difficult to require something that you can't enforce," Baumstark said. "And you have to think about the nature of what we're dealing with and we're dealing with children and that comes with a variety of behaviors."

The district plans to focus on making sure that kids are wearing the masks properly, the premises on layers of protection and stable groups.

Baumstark said enforcing the students to wear a mask would cause too many issues and is not something the district feels they can 100 percent enforce.

Baumstark said CPS is providing all teachers with two masks, but they may bring their own as well.

The CPS Re-Entry Plan for fall states that all employees will be strongly encouraged to wear a mask/face covering, especially when interacting with others not in stable group for example, in the hallways and outside of classroom.

The plan also states that when teachers are in their classroom they do not need to wear one.

Stay up-to-date on this developing story here and on ABC 17 News at 5 p.m. & 6 p.m.