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Private school near West Palm Beach will begin in-person classes next week

Classes will be 50% capacity at Berean Christian School
Berean Christian School
Posted at 9:09 PM, Jul 30, 2020
and last updated 2020-07-30 23:54:07-04

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Parents are getting ready for the first day of school at Berean Christian School near West Palm Beach.

The school will welcome students, pre-school through 12th grade, to the classroom on Aug. 5. They will be one of the first schools to have in-person classes in August.

SPECIAL COVERAGE: Back to School | Coronavirus

"Social distancing and wearing the mask, (in) the a.m. and p.m. shift, that's very well done," parent Natalie Christian said.

The school's headmaster, William Dupere, said classes will be at 50 percent capacity to allow for social distancing. Students will be on campus in shifts.

"Right now, we are running across the board at about 42 percent want to be here all day, about 32 percent want to be here half a day and the remainder want to be on virtual," Dupere said.

Berean Christian School headmaster William Dupere
Berean Christian School headmaster William Dupere says the school has spent about $20,000 on personal protective equipment.

If the student is on campus, there will be a daily check-in process starting in the morning that includes checking the temperature of the school staff and children.

The staff will also be asked a series of questions to determine if they have any coronavirus symptoms.

"We have cleaning and sanitizers in every common area. They will be issued to the teachers. The teacher will also be given sanitizer in bottles to spray," Dupere said.

Most of the kids will stay in the same classroom, with teachers moving from room to room.

"We've spent close to $20,000 on PPE equipment, so we kind of feel like we are getting to a point where we are doing as much as is required of us to make this as safe as possible. We also will not be assigning lockers until we get further down into maybe a phase two area. We will have stairwells that are up and some that are down. We are trying to minimize the traffic as much as we can in the hallways," Dupere said.

This is all part of a new normal when school is back in session this fall.