L.P. Quinn Elementary School, Tupper Lake (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

TUPPER LAKE — School Superintendent Russ Bartlett says the district will be returning to class in the fall, using an alternating schedule to get students into the classroom a few days out of the week.

Bartlett said the district is planning to get all kindergarten through sixth-grade students back in the L.P. Quinn Elementary School building four days a week.

Half of the seventh-grade to 12th-grade classes would be in the middle-high school building on Monday and Tuesday, then the other half would be in the building on Thursday and Friday. Wednesdays would be used for office hours, individual help, teacher conferences and parent conferences.

The days when students are not in the classroom, they would be working at home and attending virtual classes, similar to how they spent the last few months of classes earlier this spring.

He said if there is a need for a similar shutdown this school year, the process will be smoother.

Bartlett said he is eager to get it started.

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Questions

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Bartlett said the state’s guidance is “very thorough” and he feels there is nothing to add, as “you can never be too safe” at school.

He said the school administration has many of the same questions as the public at this point: How much class time will be lost? How much will this cost? Who will pay for it? Will academics be affected? Will kids follow the new rules?

Bartlett said “every moment of the day” will be changed to reduce the spread of this virus. He said there will be a lot of new things to get used to, but that he believes they will eventually become as natural as all the other requirements of a school day.

Bartlett said he has faith that students will adapt to the new rules.

“We’ve always risen to the challenge before. It’s just a matter of settling in and doing it,” Bartlett said.

Bartlett said schools right now are hoping for a federal plan to give states money to distribute to school districts and other government entities.

Bartlett, who is starting his first year of the superintendent position, said doesn’t know if beginning his term in the middle of a pandemic is strange or not, because he’s never done it before.

“I’ve realized that every superintendent in New York state feels like they are in their first year this year,” Bartlett said. “Whether you’re in your first year or your 20th year, you’re still trying to figure out what’s going on.”

The district’s reopening plans, which it is submitting to the state for review, will be posted to the school’s website on Friday.