Manteca Unified is spending $591,000 to add 180 hand sanitizing and reusable water bottle filling stations at 30 schools.
The school board authorized the emergency expenditure Tuesday to push what the district has been spending to address COVID-19 safety protocols for staff and when students return to campus to past $1.6 million.
Six stations will be placed at each of the campuses. The stations are expected to cost $476,000 with another $115,000 to have them installed.
The previous $1 million plus was spent on plexiglass, water fountain conversions to refillable water bottle stations, 250 paper hazmat suits for teachers that request them, 2 face shields for each of the district’s 1,200 teachers to start the year, 4 face masks for every employee — including teachers — to start the year, 2 cloth face masks for every student, and issuing more than 24,000 re-useable water bottles.
The district currently has 24,000 plus students now remote learning.
When conditions allow, the teaching structure will morph into a blended approach with half the students on campus and the other half learning from home. One set of students would go to school Monday and Tuesday while the other half would attend Thursday and Friday. Wednesday would be reserved for deep cleaning and teacher prep.
Should things improve to the point all students can be on campus at once, COVID-19 protocols and social distancing would be in place. Among the protocols in place besides the universal COVID-19 precautions are things such as being served and eating lunch in classrooms, refillable water bottled issued after drinking fountains have been modified, no use of lockers, and other steps to minimize interaction.
The start time for all three phases is the same. It is designed, as conditions warrant, to allow schools to shift from one format to another.
The possibility has been raised in the past week that the state will allow kindergarten through fifth graders return to campus if counties meet certain thresholds and local districts request a waiver.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
