CARTERVILLE (WSIL) -- The Carterville School District is dealing with the aftermath of a suspected case of COVID-19 at the high school.
News 3 was invited to take a closer look at safety procedures inside Carterville Intermediate School.
After a successful first week of blended learning Carterville Intermediate School Principal Thomas Webb says he feels confident in the school's safety measures.
"I use the analogy of a three-legged stool: where we have school, parents and then the student. We need all three legs for the school to stand," said Webb.
Webb says communication is key to keeping the school safe. He says any cases of COVID-19 will come to him and the school nurse.
"Once we have that information, we'll transfer that to our district nurse, that is housed at Carterville High School, where she is keeping track of students that have been in close contact, is awaiting testing due to symptoms or has tested positive," he said.
Students suspected to have COVID-19, will be removed from class immediately.
"If a student came in, and they were temperature screened over 100.4, we can isolate them, and they can go to the nurse for further assessment," he said.
Webb says the school has worked hard to prevent any spread of COVID-19 with two deep cleanings and requiring PPE for students.
4th grade teacher Courtney May says it'll take some time to adjust to the new changes.
She says using Google Meets has helped with planning small group learning sessions.
"We've pre-recorded lessons and sent those out to students via YouTube or Google Classroom. But I think the biggest takeaway is just how resilient students are and I think they all really impressed us."
She says her students are wearing facemasks and social distancing.
"It's small things that you notice, like sharpening pencils and different community areas that come out throughout the school year. So we've definitely had to adapt on the fly with some small things," he said.
Webb says despite this school year's new normal, he believes this school year will go well.
"We've really worked through a lot of different problems and struggles and our number one goal is student learning," he said.
