Aberdeen School District to use health & wellness pods for athletes and other students

The Aberdeen School Districts announced that they are developing a health and wellness program for students.

Superintendent Alicia Henderson said the new program is “a major undertaking, with no established plans in place from other districts that we can emulate.” 

During a recent survey, the district says that many students commented how hard it is to endure this pandemic and focus on their coursework without access to school activities. 

Students will take part in pods of four with adult supervision. The maintenance staff is currently measuring outdoor spaces to see how many students can be on the premises at a time. 

The program will start with high school students. s and will most likely be offered from Stewart Field. 

The program will be open to enrolled students in the Aberdeen School District. Funding will come from local levy dollars.

The first activities will most likely be offered from Stewart Field. 

“By following the WIAA rules, our student athletes will maintain their eligibility and will likely want to form pods within their various teams,” Superintendent Henderson noted. “But we want to be clear that this is not a return to athletics at this time, although we anticipate many of our athletes will want to participate. The health and wellness pods will be for all students regardless of participation in sports.”

Within each pod, students will be required to maintain six-feet of social distancing, and there must be 30-feet between pods, no shared use of items, outdoors only, and masks will be mandatory at all times. 

Superintendent Henderson said more information will be forthcoming on or before December 4, but the district wanted to announce the decision now so that parents can encourage their students to take part when the time comes.

“There is some out-of-the-box planning taking place,” she said. “We are very excited about the enormous potential benefit for our students – socially, emotionally, physically and academically.”

The program is slated to be up and running in early December.