By Amanda Nichols On Monday, March 23, the Snowflake Unified School District Governing Board held a special meeting discussing how to proceed with paying employees who are affected by the school closure due to the novel coronavirus outbreak. Currently, the school is allowing employees who are not able to work from home, such as custodians and teaching aides, to come in to work on different tasks within the schools, such as disinfecting the high traffic areas. If an employee is unable to do their job at home, they must come in to work in order to get paid. Teachers will be able to work from home and conduct their classes in the best way they see fit but the board is strongly encouraging teachers to take their student’s needs into account. “We’re encouraging our teachers to make sure they know individually what their kids need. If your plan is to do it on Google Classroom, that’s great, but you need to know how many of your kids can’t,” said Superintendent Hollis Merrell. The board is especially concerned with students who may not have reliable access to internet and parents who may not be home to help them. After a brief discussion, President Cory Johnson made a motion to work in the best interest of the district and continue to pay employees while school is closed and allow administration to make decisions needed to take care of teachers and school. The motion was passed unanimously.
