WALES – The Regional School Unit 4 board of directors has adopted a school-level plan to mitigate COVID-19 infections as students and staff prepare to return for in-person learning five days a week.

The plans, based on Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services recommendations, will adjust for each building depending on COVID-19 status, ranging from optional masks to remote learning.

Not only is full-time return to classrooms “important for our educators, but it is incredibly important for our students,” Superintendent Andrew Carlton wrote in a message.

“For the last year and a half, they have not done school in a traditional manner and there is no question that it has taken its toll on them. Being a parent of four children myself, I know all too well the social, emotional, and academic struggles that they have had throughout the last eighteen months.”

Carlton noted the need for health and safety measures will continue in district buildings as students and staff return, with the board’s school-level COVID-19 mitigation plan based on green, yellow and red levels of infection.

At the green level, with zero to one case in a school building over a 10-day period, masks will be recommended for all unvaccinated people, but will not be required. For students, indoor face coverings will be left to parent choice.

At the yellow level, with two to three cases in a school over a 10-day period, masks will be required indoors for everyone, regardless of vaccination status. At this level, the district will offer in-school BinaxNow rapid testing for students after exposure.

If a school moves into a red level, with more than three cases per school over a 10-day period, all students in that school will move to remote learning. According to Carlton, the red designation will only happen if there is an increase in COVID-19 cases or lack of staffing due to quarantines.

When students and staff return, physical distancing will continue to the greatest extent possible, according to Carlton, while maintaining learning environments. And, pandemic-level hand hygiene and disinfection practices will continue in all buildings.

In the green and yellow levels, masks will not be required outdoors but they will be required on all school buses and for any school transportation.

For more information about the plan, including designated levels for each school, go to rsu4.org. Parents with questions are asked to contact their child’s building administrator.

RSU 4 includes Oak Hill High School in Wales, Oak Hill Middle School in Sabattus, Carrier Ricker and Libby Tozier schools, both in Litchfield, and Sabattus Primary School.