BOISE, Idaho — As schools across the Treasure Valley have kicked off the school year, many questions are left unanswered for parents and students.
Each school in each district has set forth its own reopening guidelines based on recommendations from its respected local health district. In addition, each district has been placed in a category that determines the amount of community spread within it: red, yellow and green.
While some schools are taking reopening one day at a time, others have not started yet, whether online or in person.
Here is an updated list of local school district's reopening plans and community spread category placements.
West Ada School District
Idaho's largest school district heads back to school remotely on Tuesday, Sept. 8, three weeks after their original start date.
The district made the decision to push back the start date to allow for more time to finalize its reopening plan, which officials did earlier this week. Additionally, West Ada wanted more time for laptops and iPads to be delivered.
West Ada School Board voted to allow students to return to their classrooms for in-person classes after the first week back to school. For this to happen, Central District Health must move Ada County into the yellow category, meaning minimal community spread in the district, something director Ross Duke believes will happen this coming week.
Should CDH make that decision, a special board meeting will not be held after the first week.
At a previous meeting, board members gave the superintendent the authority to move classes back to in-person when the district enters the yellow category.
Boise School District
On Thursday, Boise School District voted to allow some students to return to in-person learning two weeks after CDH moves Ada County into the yellow category.
That two weeks is needed to get ready to transport children to and from school and to provide meals to students
That plan would not go into effect until at least Sept. 21.
The district says the ultimate goal is to resume normal in-person operations by November 9th.
Nampa School District
The school board voted on Tuesday to keep schools in the district in the red category. This means students will continue with remote learning for at least two more weeks.
Students will transition into hybrid learning once the district is moved into the orange category, something officials say will take about a week and a half.
The earliest that could happen would be September 21.
However, the school board did vote to allow sports to resume practices this week, with games starting the week of Sept. 7.
Emmett School District
In Gem County, students will head back to their classrooms beginning on Sept. 9.
The district is currently listed under the orange category, meaning there is a medium risk to the community and minimal community spread.
Masks will not be required.
The district also approved moving athletics into the yellow category. This means there will be no limit to the number of fans attending football games.
At KTVB, we’re focusing our news coverage on the facts and not the fear around the virus. To see our full coverage, visit our coronavirus section, here: www.ktvb.com/coronavirus.
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