McGuffey Finalizes Reopening Plan

The McGuffey School Board met for over two and a half hours taking care of day to day business and pondering and debating what school will look like when classes start on August 27. Director Zonie Jackson led the Committee Meeting by asking questions that she received since a public zoom meeting and parent survey were completed. A question about a full five day week for students was deemed not possible due to lack of space required by social distancing guidelines. Internet connectivity is being addressed with a grant for jet pack acquisition through grants and available hot spots. Students can connect at the school buildings and teachers will do their best to download information on laptops so that the need for connectivity will be limited. What the school week work load will look like is still under development but what was ironed out is that students will attend school in the buildings two days a week and use remote learning the other three. In the business portion of the meeting, the district’s real estate tax assessment appeals program passed on a roll call vote 6-3. At issue for dissenters is the fact that if the school district appeals the assessment of a recently purchased home for the new sales price, that could make the home unaffordable to a new owner. McGuffey uses this practice to keep tax revenue balanced with the up to date purchase prices of homes in the school district. The practice has been used since the countywide reassessment back in 2017.