NEW BLOOMFIELD - The New Bloomfield R-3 Board of Education had a number of discussions related to athletics and extracurricular activities Thursday.
All board members except Amy Pendleton were present.
Though parents won't be allowed in the school buildings during the day, spectators will be allowed at events and games.
The board adopted a recommendation encouraging face coverings at extracurricular activities, placing social-distancing signs around the field or lobby, requiring temperature checks at indoor events and practicing social distancing to the extent possible. Designated home and visitor seating will be clearly labeled.
The spectator plan will be re-evaluated monthly.
The board voted unanimously students taking virtual classes through an outside vendor will not participate in extracurricular activities - this is different than if in-person students have to be sent home later in the year.
During the yellow phase of the district's COVID-19 plan, middle and high school students will learn remotely and elementary students will continue to attend class.
The board decided if the district goes into this phase, all Missouri State High School Activities Association-sanctioned activities will continue.
The board was also asked to decide whether outside groups should be allowed to use school facilities this year.
"We get an abundance of requests to use our facilities, and we've always stood by the fact that these are our community's facilities and our taxpayer's facilities," Superintendent Sarah Wisdom said.
Wisdom noted allowing groups to use school facilities would increase cleaning needs.
"I don't think we should have people in buildings right now and putting our janitors to that extra stress to deal with those different times of cleaning," board President Terri Sweeten said.
The rest of the board agreed, deciding not to allow outside groups to use school facilities during the pandemic.
In other COVID-19-related developments, the district has installed thermal cameras at school entrances with the help of Callaway County, which funded 80 percent of the cost.
The cameras can measure temperatures as people enter the building, alerting staff if someone appears to have a high temperature. Though not a perfect measure, staff can use the alert as a guide, pulling aside anyone the cameras notice and taking a more accurate reading with a hand-held thermometer.
New Bloomfield High School Principal Paul Cloudwright said the cameras have come in handy already this summer, helping to identify one person who was sick.
During the meeting, the board was going to consider entering into an agreement with Springfield Public Schools to use its Launch program for online learning. That had to be taken off the agenda because the program is too full to handle more students at this point as students and districts across the state have signed on.
Other options do exist, all vetted by the state, but one reason the district had been looking at Launch is the program is based in Missouri and uses Missouri teachers.
Wisdom shared several numbers with the board - as of Thursday, five students have opted for virtual learning with an outside vendor and seven have chosen homeschooling. Those numbers may change, and the district has several homeschool students every year.
"By far, the majority will still be in-seat," Wisdom said.
During the meeting, Wisdom demonstrated a disinfectant spray-tool janitorial staff will use to clean buildings. The tool quickly sprays disinfectant.
"Why we wanted these was to do things quickly, but effectively," Wisdom said. "When you go into a classroom, it takes a lot of time and manpower to put all that on the rag and then wipe it down."
The district got rid of classroom carpets to help cut down on cleaning times.
In other business, the board approved the 2020-21 operating tax levy as $3.3781 and debt service levy as $1.0381 for a total of $4.4162 at a tax hearing at the beginning of the meeting.
The six members present also unanimously proved the local plan for compliance for special education, an addendum to a contract with Durham School Services, a visually impaired teacher agreement, an updated EdCounsel policy and the decision to appoint Elementary School Principal Jennifer Fletcher as Title IX coordinator.