Principal Pat St. Clair greets parents waiting to pick up students after school Thursday, Sept. 1, at Spruce Mountain Elementary School in Jay. A new after-school route was designed to reduce traffic bottlenecks. Pam Harnden/Livermore Falls Advertiser

LIVERMORE FALLS — Students in Regional School Unit 73 are back in school for the start of another year with some notable differences.

Protocols for COVID-19 have been relaxed and parents of students at the elementary school have a new route for picking them up after school.

The first day of school was a wet one for most students in Regional School Unit 73 Wednesday, Aug. 31. Brooklyn Curtis of North Jay is seen under an umbrella while waiting for the school bus. Pam Harnden/Livermore Falls Advertiser

A letter sent to parents and community members Aug. 22 provided an update on protocols related to COVID-19 for classrooms, buses, lunch and other school activities:

• The recommendation for cohorts and distancing has been removed.

• Masking remains optional, at school and on the bus, for staff & students unless an individual tests positive for COVID-19 or has a known exposure to COVID-19.

• Water fountains will remain as a water bottle filling station only.

Sisters Rylie and Jailinn Fortin find a novel way to keep dry while waiting for the school bus Wednesday morning, Aug. 31, on Old Jay Hill Road in North Jay. They are seen standing under the front end of a gooseneck trailer used to haul the family’s horses and cattle. Pam Harnden/Livermore Falls Advertiser

Parents are asked to send students to school with a water bottle.

“Preventative measures to decrease the transmission of infectious diseases including COVID-19 will continue to be a top priority this school year,” the letter states. “This includes encouraging good hand hygiene, increasing ventilation whenever possible, cleaning surfaces, encouraging students to cover coughs/sneezes, and staying home when sick.

“As a reminder, students should not return to school until he/she has gone 24 hours without vomiting, diarrhea, or fever. With a negative COVID-19 test, your child may return to school when symptoms have improved and no fever for 24 hours without the use of medication such as ibuprofen/Tylenol.”

Quarantine is not needed when there is an exposure to COVID-19.

“The CDC continues to recommend that the individual wear a mask for 10 days from the last day of exposure to the case. He/she should test on day 6 and/or anytime he/she develops symptoms,” the letter states.

The school nurse should be notified if a student tests positive for COVID-19. “The CDC continues to recommend that the individual isolate for [five] days from the day symptoms begin or the test date if no symptoms. He/she can come out of isolation on day [six] (if symptoms have improved and no fever for 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medicine) but should wear a mask around people, in public, and at school through day 10,” the letter indicates.

The new parent pick-up route at Spruce Mountain Elementary School appears to be working well.

“This has gone really smoothly,” Principal Pat St. Clair said Thursday afternoon, Sept. 1.

Elle Belanger, a fifth grade student from Livermore Falls is seen Thursday afternoon, Sept. 1, as she leaves Spruce Mountain Elementary School in Jay. Pam Harnden/Livermore Falls Advertiser

There is a little less pressure when you can’t see the cars all lined up waiting, a staff member busy sending students to their parents said.

A parent of a third-grade student said she liked the system. Her student was at the primary school last year so didn’t have to deal with the old system.

Vehicles Thursday afternoon, Sept. 1, wait to leave the Spruce Mountain Elementary School parking lot in Jay. There is a new traffic route for parents to pick up students this year. It is aimed to reduce bottlenecks while entering or leaving the parking lot. Pam Harnden/Livermore Falls Advertiser

Morning drop off continues as it was last year with vehicles entering the back parking lot near the tennis courts and making a loop back to Route 4. A new road has been built from that parking lot to School Bus Road. Parents now come down Hyde Road through that new road by the bus garage, pick up their students then exit onto Route 4.

“They should do this for the morning too,” Katie Irizarri of Livermore Falls said.