Here is an update on Ada school reopening from information on the school website.

By Meri Skilliter, superintendent
At his Aug. 4, press conference Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, addressed school reopening plans and athletics.

I want to summarize what his comments and orders mean for the Ada Exempted Village Schools and our reopening plan.

Face coverings
First, the Governor added an additional order regarding face coverings for school children. The Children’s Hospital Association published a recent article recommending that students in grades K-12 should wear face coverings when we return to school.

The governor announced that he would be issuing an order to this same effect in Ohio. He included some social emotional/psychological/ and educational exceptions in this order including students under the age of 2-years-old, any child unable to remove a mask without assistance, a child with a significant behavioral/psychological issue undergoing treatment that is exacerbated by the use of a mask, a child with severe autism or with extreme developmental delay, a child with a facial deformity that causes airway obstruction.

These are the exceptions recommended by the American Association of Children’s Hospitals. The Ada Reopening Plan says that face coverings will be worn according to any additional orders issued by the governor. Thus, should this order be in place at the time of the start of Ada Schools, Aug. 2, we will be required to follow this order.

If you have signed your child up for the home instruction option, and because of this order you now wish to do in school instruction, please email Mr. Thaxton for elementary K-5 students, and Mr. Lee for middle school/high school 6-12 students, giving them all your children’s names and grades and clearly stating that you enrolled them in home instruction, but would like to change that decision.

Home instruction
Once Aug. 10 comes, your child must take the home instruction option if you’ve signed them up and not withdrawn them. As always, questions can also be directed to:
• Mr. Thaxton at [email protected]
• Mr. Lee at [email protected]

Athletics
In addition, the governor clarified that the order in place regarding athletics in school is to address starting practices, etc., especially for those sports considered high contact, in our case cross country, football, and soccer.

He and Lieutenant Governor Husted continue to work on scenarios related to these sports, and they want to wait to see where Ohio is a couple of weeks from now, before making a firm decision about whether those sports will take place, under what conditions, and whether spectators will be allowed.

Meanwhile, Ada Schools will follow the responsible start guidance for athletics and for specific sports, and await a final decision. While we have always known that only true constant in this world is change, we’ve seen that so often during this pandemic.

We will do everything in our power to make these changes in course swiftly and communicate with our families as we do.