Bangor Schools Could Use Color Coding for Students’ Return Status

A red-yellow-green coding system could help parents know whether their child's school is open for full-time in-person classrooms, or whether they'll be staying home.

It's a complicated process for school administrators right now, determining the wisest path to learning for next year. Distance learning has challenges, to be sure, but returning to the classroom means following CDC guidelines and making sure the children and staff are going to be safe. Each district is coming up with similar but unique solutions to this 'new normal' way of learning.

In Bangor, WABI-TV reports some of the reopening plans were explained at a school committee meeting this week. The committee has tentatively accepted the plans but has not voted on whether they will be enacted. That plan mimics a traffic light, with each school receiving a red, yellow, or green classification.

Red - A red classification means that students will continue with distance learning.

Yellow - Yellow means that students will be involved in 'hybrid learning,' which is a combination of online and in-class learning. In this model, students would spend a few days at school and the rest of the week online from home.

Green - A green qualification means the school is able to take students for full-time in-person classrooms. That doesn't necessarily mean the school will require students to be there full-time, and educators could decide on a 'yellow-type' hybrid plan. But it means the school is equipped to allow students there full-time.

Superintendent Betsy Webb said, during the meeting, that a number of safety protocols are being put in place for the fall, including one-way hallways, desks physically distanced from each other, and no lockers. Students would eat lunch at their desks, instead of in a cafeteria.

If a student tests positive for COVID, the school would be shut down for several days while deep-cleaning is conducted. Isolation classrooms have been set up for any student that is showing symptoms. Find more information about the reopening plans on the Bangor Schools' website.