The Greene County school district is finishing the 2020-21 school year leaving virtually all decision-making regarding Covid-19 to students’ parents.
The board decided at its regular meeting in April not to require students to wear face masks except on school buses. School superintendent Tim Christensen told the board at its regular meeting May 19 that the school is continuing to do contact tracing if a student tests positive for Covid, but following Iowa Department of Public Health recommendations, the district is no longer requiring students to be quarantined following a possible exposure to Covid. Instead, parents will determine if their child will attend school following the exposure.
Two items of business were related to Covid-19. Christensen provided a list of 25 potential uses for the $780,000 the district will receive in federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds. The funds can be used to update HVAC systems to help mitigate Covid and Covid-related viruses, and to reduce the “learning gap” for students that resulted from Covid-related school breaks.
Christensen’s list incudes replacing the HVAC systems in the middle school locker rooms; replacing the heat pump in the elementary gymnasium, in classrooms, and three heat pumps in elementary hallways; and updating the HVAC system near the main entrance to the middle school and in the middle school auditorium; and updating controls in the HVAC systems being replaced. Educational uses include updating student and teacher Chromebooks, adding Clevertouch screens in middle school and elementary classrooms, and updating sound systems in those classrooms.
The district is also using ESSER funds for summer school and in a partnership with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach for summer enrichment day camps, STEMfest, and Enrichment clubs.
Two-year positions to be paid for with ESSER funds include two math interventionists and a school/family liaison who will assist with re-integrating remote learners back to school.
The list was not prioritized and did not include cost estimates. Click here to see the complete list.
Also related to the pandemic, new legislation allows districts to transfer funds from their general fund to their student activities fund due to pandemic-related financial hardship. Activities director Todd Gordon compiled dollar amounts in gate revenue from sports beginning with the 2016-17 year and averaged those amounts to estimate revenue lost in 2019-20 and the current school year. He calculated a loss of $21,915; the board approved a transfer of that amount from the general fund into the student activities fund.
The board approved out-of-state travel for the Art Club May 28-29 to tour art galleries and museums. The board also approved a proposal by band director Wes Anderson for the band to travel to and perform in Orlando, FL, during Christmas break of the 2022-23 school year. The trip will be booked through Bob Rogers Travel.
