Motorists are reminded to slow down and be extra careful today as schoolkids return to classes in the Mitchell School District. Mitchell Schools Superintendent Joe Graves says students will notice some changes at the different schools. “We spent the summer of course doing our usual maintenance,” said Graves. “We wax all the floors, clean all the classrooms, deep sanitize, and those kinds of things. We have a nice new access point at the high school this year. Lots of painting and work was done at the Mitchell Middle School. At all of our elementary schools, we did some HVAC work and put in some new LED lighting.”
He says the school year will start without a mask mandate. “We hope that’s gonna stay in place. We’re keeping track of our COVID numbers and also having regular conversations with our Department of Health people here and our local health providers. So if we do see any alarming trends, we’re gonna be talking to the board again in the future. But hopefully, we’ll be sticking with what we have right now, and our case numbers don’t increase.”
There have been teacher shortages across the state. Graves says the Mitchell School District was able to fill all openings.