Greene County students will start the school year in-person five days a week, although school superintendent Tim Christensen warned the plan “could change next week or it could change in a month.” He referred to a “moving target” when he briefed the board about the coming year at its regular meeting July 15.
Christensen shared with the board a 16-point protocol for reopening school developed by a committee of 29 school staff with guidance from the Greene County public health department. The board approved the protocol and it was released to parents via social media immediately after the meeting.
Although students, parents and staff are more impacted by the protocol, community members will be impacted as well.
Per the protocol, visitors will not be allowed past the school office. There will be no parents or volunteers in classrooms. Also, use of school facilities by outside groups will be limited due to the extra cleaning time required.
The protocol does not include screening of students when they arrive at school. Parents are expected to screen their children at home for Covid-19 symptoms and keep their children home if they have symptoms. Parents will be notified of confirmed cases. They’ll be told only which building is involved and if the patient is a student or staff. Students who test positive for Covid-19 will be out of school until 14 days have passed.
A threshold has not been set for closing school due to the number of positive cases. Christensen stressed that if schools are closed for in-person attendance, remote learning will not be optional. It will be required – attendance will be taken and coursework and tests will be graded.
At school, social distancing of 3-6 feet will be expected “when possible.” Students and staff are encouraged, although not required, to wear masks when social distancing is not possible. Students are “highly encouraged” to wear face coverings on school busses. According to Christensen, only one of the 19 districts in Prairie Lakes AEA is requiring masks.
Students and staff are expected to wash or sanitize their hands when they enter the building, when they enter or exit classrooms or the cafeteria, and when they leave the building. Teachers are asked to include time for students to sanitize their workspace before and after class. Water fountains will be shut off, but water bottle filling stations will be available.
A copy of the protocol is available on the school website at https://www.gccsd.k12.ia.us/
The board also approved new policies relating to Covid-19. Among them is one that gives the school superintendent the authority to close school buildings to traditional in-person learning if he determines in-person learning would “hinder the health and safety of the school community.”
Another new policy is a form to request remote learning for students with a vulnerable health condition or those who live with someone with a vulnerable health condition. Christensen expects there will be students in all grades who are not able to attend for health reasons. Teachers are going to have to plan ahead to present lessons in a way that can be accessed by remote learners and in-person learners, he said.
The board approved 2020-21 handbooks for bus drivers, coaches/directors, and employees with no changes from last school year. There are only minor changes in the student/parent handbooks.
In recent years the board has used its work session in July to discuss its goals for the new school year and then approved the goals at the regular meeting. The board heard proposals for use of the old middle school and gymnasium during the July 15 work session and spent much of the meeting time talking about the uncertainty of the coming year. The board agreed to table setting goals until the August meeting, with a plan to have discussion at the work session. “When you don’t know what school’s going to look like, it’s hard to set goals,” Christensen said.
The board later declined to have a scheduled closed session for goal setting for the superintendent for the same reason.
The board agreed on legislative priorities to forward to the Iowa Association of School Boards for the coming year. The board selected as priorities continuation and expansion of statewide voluntary preschool; establishing comprehensive community mental health systems to offer preventive and treatment services and comprehensive school mental health programs; creating additional tools to attract individuals to the teaching profession, particularly in shortage areas; and sufficient and timely funding.
The board did the first reading of a revised board policy dealing with use of the Ram logo by outside groups. After a second reading of the policy in August, outside groups will have to pay a nominal fee for a license to use the logo.
