AUBURN — A draft plan for reopening schools in the fall will be presented in forums next week for feedback from parents and staff.

The exhaustive plan, which relies on a “hybrid” of in-class and remote instruction, unanimously passed a first reading by the School Committee on Wednesday night following more than two hours of discussion.

Approval means the Health and Safety Re-entry Steering Committee can move forward to get feedback and tie up loose ends.

But not everyone liked the plan.

“I really don’t like the hybrid approach,” committee member Brian Belknap said.

“I’ve heard from a lot of parents concerned their kids will feel like they’re in a jail cell,” he said. “They don’t want to put their kids on a bus wearing a mask.”

He wondered how young children would be made to wear masks on buses and in classrooms.

“I think teachers will spend more time getting kids to keep masks on than teaching,” Belknap said.

Children would be allowed to take “mask breaks” as long as they are social distancing from one another by 6 feet, Assistant Superintendent Michelle McClellan said. She chairs the reentry committee.

She said the public forums will be posted on the school district’s website and social media outlets and will be held at neighborhood elementary schools, and at the middle and high schools.

The reentry plan and a survey for comment are available on the website, she said. The School Committee will vote on a final plan in August.

“Our No. 1 priority is the health and safety of students,” McClellan said. “We need to be flexible and nimble as things change with the virus, with the guidelines and the recommendations from the (Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention).

She said the plan follows the guidelines of the Maine Department of Education: symptom screening before going to school, masks, distancing, hand hygiene, personal protective equipment and a protocol for returning to school after illness.

The 17-page draft proposes in-person and remote instruction for students in grades three through 12. They would be divided into two groups, one attending Monday and Tuesday and the other Thursday and Friday. Staff will work to group children from the same families together.

Pupils in prekindergarten through grade two would attend school Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

Schools would be closed Wednesdays to deep-clean the buildings.

School Committee Chairwoman Karen Mathieu said she had heard thoughts on the plan from parents, staff, spouses of staff, students and people who have no children in school.

Comments ranged from “’please reopen schools with no safety guidelines’ to ‘please do not open schools, continue with remote instruction,’” she said.

McClellan said decisions would not be made based on emotion.

“We will rely on (Deputy Fire Chief Matt Fifield) for objectivity,” McClellan said. “There is a lot of emotion around this, but we need to make decisions based on science and medical research about COVID.”

Fifield, the safety officer for the city of Auburn, provided the committee with data about the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

Androscoggin County had seen 513 cases and five deaths as of July 22, he said. Active cases numbered 35, down from 123 on June 1.

He did not have numbers specific to Auburn.

Safety protocols include:

• Bus drivers will wear face shields and students will be required to wear face masks on the bus and in classrooms. Masks will be provided if a student is in need.
• Classrooms will accommodate 10-12 students on average to allow for social distancing.
• Plexiglas panels will be installed before the start of school.
• Hand sanitizing stations will be added, as needed, throughout buildings.
• A screening tool will be provided to parents for daily use before school arrival.
• Schools will create pre-entry webinars and/or videos to explain and demonstrate new protocols for drop-off and pickup routines.