Students, staff return to class at Miamisburg for first day

MIAMISBURG, Ohio — More students in the Miami Valley headed back to class Monday morning.

Miamisburg students returned to class Monday morning and while some COVID-19 policies like mask mandates are no longer in place, other policies remain.

Dr. Laura Blessing, Superintendent of Miamisburg Schools, said, “This is still a unique year. It’s year three of COVID for us in the school setting.”

Like most schools, Miamisburg City Schools ended the end of their 2019 school year early, and the start of 2020 was anything but normal.

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Supt. Blessing said teachers were excited today to be back in the classroom.

This year, masks are not required in the district. However, they are encouraged for those who are not vaccinated or immunocompromised.

“We know our families learned and educated themselves and we want to leave it up to them at this

point,” Supt. Blessing said.

She continued by saying that because of learning and ready and seeing students’ excitement and anxiety on their faces, it will be a different approach this year.

Some students and staff did have masks on prior to the first bell ringing Monday morning. Many, like Sophomore Katrina Schnelle did not.

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When asked if she felt safe going to school this year, Schnelle replied, “Yeah.”

Most of the COVID-19 policies in place in 2020 will remain, such as staying home if students are sick or notifying the school of a positive COVID-19 test.

Health screening for visitors, extra sanitizer and cleaning procedures are social distancing are in place.

Supt. Blessing said, “Prior to COVID, kids would get off the bus and go to a main staging area such as the cafeteria or gym. We’re still going to do our soft starts where kids don’t congregate in big areas. We still want social distancing.”

Supt. Blessing said throughout the year, these policies could change, depending on what happens with the pandemic.

“We are watching daily and monitoring. We’ll make changes we need to, to keep everyone safe,” Supt. Blessing said.

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