Liam HalawithMaroon Echoes Editor-In-Chief The Mount Pleasant Community School District Board met on Monday night to discuss the governor’s recent education proclamation and what that means for their Return to Learn plan.
Governor Reynolds released a proclamation last Friday that stated that Face to Face instruction or in-person learning is the preferred method, and that at least 50% of a student’s educational time should be in a classroom. According to the district’s curriculum director Katie Gavin, school districts can not go into a remote learning only model without special permission from the state, but can go into a hybrid model with a rotational schedule. This means that if the district or a school building is suffering from an outbreak the school district can get special permission from the Department of Education to temporarily shut down and use remote learning to bridge the gap. The proclamation also states that a parent can choose for their child to attend remotely. However, the district is not required to provide remote learning for families who would simply prefer the remote option. This leaves the question, can a district provide remote learning as an option to everyone or only for those students with fragile health issues? The board believes that it would require more resources than they have. Not physical resources but teaching resources. Currently, the district has only one teacher per grade level in the elementary buildings running remote learning. In the secondary schools remote learning students will be assigned an academic online adviser who checks with them daily on top of their regular course work teachers. This option is only available for the few families and students that are of fragile health for now. Making the resource available requires only a few teachers just for online instruction and remote learning. One teacher can only effectively interact with about 5 kids before they are at capacity. Even 75 kids would overload the teaching staff. “If we were going to do that at a large scale, it’s going to take more teaching resources,” said Superintendent John Henriksen at the meeting. The board decided that they will survey for who would likely attend the program if offered before registration. So that they have better numbers to see if they are actually able to accomplish this. Henriksen asked if the board decides to entertain the idea of providing the option to families whether they would want to consider a cap to ensure teaching resources are not stretched too thin. The district is however obligated to provide remote learning services for students who are deemed of fragile health by a healthcare care provider. This meaning children who are themselves of fragile health or a parent or guardian is of fragile health. This is meant to ensure that those who are at high-risk for complications from the virus are not unduly exposed. The district has so far identified 10 families or 20 students that are of fragile health from school records, according to Ms. Gavin. This is a very manageable number for the district; however there could be a higher number because these do not account for parents or guardians who are of fragile health. “We will be ready to address the need [of students with fragile health], but if we’re talking about wholesale online remote learning, that’s at a larger scale and it’s going to take a bigger ramp-up than we had intended if we’re going to do it with high quality,” said Mr. Henriksen Again, this is all just discussion from the district’s work session on Monday. There will be one more work session before a final vote on the RTL plan at the regular August 10th meeting of the school board.
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Liam HalawithMaroon Echoes Editor-In-Chief Last Monday, the Mount Pleasant Community School Board discussed and reviewed the district’s “Return to Learn” plan at length. During their discussion, the board came to the consensus that the district will require grades 1-12 and staff to wear a mask during the school day when social distancing cannot be achieved.
To get perspective on how parents and teachers felt the district released two surveys of similar format asking them about PPE. The district sent a survey to all teachers asking their opinion on PPE for themselves and their students. The district fielded about 231 teacher responses out of 300+ staff. When asked if they thought that staff should be required to wear PPE the majority felt it was necessary, with 114 or 49.4%. 45 respondents or 19% said that it shouldn’t be required. The other respondents were neutral about the issue. When asked if students should be required to wear PPE 102 staff members or 44.2% of those who responded felt that students should be required to wear PPE. Meanwhile, 55 or 23.8% felt that they shouldn’t be required. This sent a clear message to the board - teachers and staff think that PPE should be required for everyone. The results of the parent's survey weren’t as clear cut as it was for staff. The district’s parent survey garnered over 800 responses. When asked if they thought PPE should be required for staff, most thought it was a good idea. With 44.7% saying it should be required and only 26% disagreeing. For students, they flipped with only 33% saying it should be required for students. From this information and hundreds of recommendations from local physicians and the American Pediatrics Association, in their plan on reopening schools, Superintendent John Henriksen recommended that they require PPE in the schools. Board Member Martha Wiley thought that making the PPE required would turn the masks into a game amongst students, making the masks counterintuitive. Martha also stated that if the district is going to require it there needs to be clear cut consequences and they need to avoid expulsion if possible. Dr. Sarah Ledger, a local physician, and parent strongly urged the district to require masks instead of just expecting the students to wear them on their own free will. She stated that it would make it ineffective if only a few people have a mask on. She suggested an all or none approach. She added that it would also make it easier behavior-wise if all students had to wear one, especially for younger children. Many board members also stated that if they didn’t make it required it would fall well below their expectations, using the voluntary remote learning last spring as an example. Board member Willy Amos said that worse things could happen if masks were not required, and that if we don’t make it mandatory it could make us go into remote or hybrid options faster. “We have to understand that there’s a new normal and masks will be around for a while. We’re going to have to adapt,” he said. After much discussion between the board and a few comments and suggestions from the crowd, the board decided that the district should require PPE for students and staff. A reminder that this was only a work session and no plan has been officially voted on yet. The board plans to meet again one more time to discuss the Return to Learn plans before they vote at their regular meeting on the August 10th. Liam HalawithMaroon Echoes Editor The Mount Pleasant Community School district is still in the reviewing process of their fall 2020 “Return to Learn” plan. Many parents and teachers around the state are worried that plans are not taking more precautions to protect students and staff.
Many district plans do not require the use of face coverings in schools or account for social distancing in their face-to-face models. This means that staff and students would likely be at a greater risk of contracting the virus. Only Offering remote learning is now out of the question for Iowa Schools, Governor Kim Reynolds announced Friday that the state will require at least half of learning time to be done in the classroom in a face-to-face model. Meaning that school district’s now only have two options for instruction: Face to Face or Hybrid models. Remote learning is out of the question for Iowa schools. Reynolds wants to bring back face-to-face instruction despite coronavirus numbers continuing to climb in Iowa. However, if parents decide that it is best for their child they can still attend school remotely. With her mandate schools must also offer in person classes. “Given the importance of education to our children and to the people of Iowa, we owe it to them to just roll up our sleeves and get our schools back up and running safely and effectively,” Reynolds said. Teachers are wanting district's and the government to do more to protect them and their students from deadly disease. President of the National Education Association, Lily Garcia, stated in a press release that, “As we have consistently stated before, no one wants students to safely return to classrooms more than parents, educators and administrators. Whether school buildings are open or not this fall, educators have been working — and will continue to work — to make sure students have the best possible learning experience and have what they need to succeed. So let’s not rush students and educators into classrooms when no one can ensure they are safe yet.” This statement comes as teachers are telling districts to step up their response and to keep the staff and students safe. They say that more needs to be done for them and their students to feel comfortable returning in the fall. “The bottom line is that without a comprehensive plan that includes federal resources to provide for the safety of our students and educators with funding for personal protective equipment, socially distanced instruction, and addressing racial inequity, we could be putting students, their families, and educators in danger,” said Garcia in that same press release. The Mount Pleasant school district released data from a recent survey sent to parents asking about the district’s response in the spring to remote learning and their Return to Learn plan. The data showed that parents were divided about their children returning to school. In the survey, parents were asked to rate on a scale of one to five, how comfortable they felt sending their kids back to school in light of mitigation strategies presented with Return to Learn plans. 35.3 percent of parents said they were feeling comfortable (five) with sending their child back. About 20 percent of parents rated their comfort level at a four. Another 20 percent stood in the middle with a three rating. About 25 percent revealed they were not as comfortable (one and two). Overall, parents and teachers aren’t sure if the current plans are the right choice for them. Many don’t feel comfortable coming back yet without high quality direction, and the governor has just changed the course again. Through all this the MPCSD school board is still working hard on the plan and trying to come up with a better way to help the students and staff. The board will meet again this Monday, July 20th in a work session to continue reviewing and updating the Return to Learn plans. Liam HalawithMaroon Echoes News The Mount Pleasant Community School District has begun reviewing their Return-To-Learn plan for implementation in the fall 2020 school year. The RTL plan includes metrics and requirements for returning to school in a safe environment for staff and students. There are three different models for the district depending on what coronavirus cases and spread totals are reported when school starts. These three models are required by the state, although the state has given no guidance beyond that requirement. This leaves districts with gaps to fill on their own. Most school districts, including our own, are turning to the Federal Centers for Disease Control for recommendations, but that only fills in part of the equation. It leaves the district to figure out how they will provide instruction within these new guidelines. The first model in the district’s plan is the face-to-face or “Brick and Mortar” plan. This plan is where all students will attend school, excluding special cases. The goal is to make it the most normal that school can be with the control guidelines. This plan will include social distancing, disinfection, and other mitigation strategies to make it safe for students to return to the school building. At this point, the plan only encourages students to wear a mask in high traffic areas and sanitize their hands often. The only place masks are required are on school buses, and along with masks students are only allowed on their assigned bus and will be given an assigned seat. The district’s “Hybrid Plan” of half-online, half face-to-face time, has the same mitigation techniques or other procedures, but there is one big difference. The district will be dividing Pre K-5 grade into different school buildings. This plan reduces class sizes to 15 students to ensure social distancing. Preschool will take place every day at Van Allen elementary school for both AM and PM classes for a total of three classrooms. Kindergarten classes will also be held at Van Allen in ten classrooms. First Grade will be in class at Harlan everyday occupying ten classrooms. Second Grade will be held at Lincoln. Third Grade will be at Salem and Lincoln Elementary. Fourth Grade will be at Van Allen or Harlan elementary. Fifth Grade will be held at Mount Pleasant Community High School. Sixth graders will be at the middle school full time with reduced class sizes. 7th - 12th grader will go to school on a rotational basis with 50% of students going one day and 50% the next. Those not in the school building will attend school via online learning. The district “Remote Learning” plan requires all students to attend school through a learning management system, such as Canvas. They will also be aided by other remote learning tools. Some students might have to come to the school building every day for a short period of time because of internet access issues. Adapting To Helping Those In Need At Monday night’s regular school board meeting Superintendent of School John Henriksen presented the current draft of the MPCSD Return-to-Learn plan for the 2020-21 school year. He also discussed the challenges facing the school district and the gaps that must be addressed before implementing any of the plans.
The largest issue was trying to compensate for kids with fragile health that wouldn’t be able to return to normal school if the novel coronavirus was still a threat. They also struggle to try to overcome obstacles to 100% online learning with a substantial portion of the student population without a reliable internet connection. Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Katie Gavin spoke at the school board meeting this Monday where they revealed the plan and said, “No matter what we do we are going to have to have this underlying online experience for students K-12.” According to Ms. Gavin, this is due to several students in the district having to take online schooling for health and other non-specified reasons. To address students with fragile health and those in need of remote instructional support the district has a plan set in place. The district has assigned one teacher per grade level K-5 to create and manage online learning. These teachers are responsible for creating and loading content into the course so that any student that is not able to come to school doesn’t miss out on their instruction time. For 6-12 grades there is an easily incorporated online model for students to follow if the district were to go to remote learning. Although to make this approach more effective the district is implementing advisers to check in with online learning students daily to see how they’re doing and making sure they’re doing their work. Essentially they will be building relationships with the students, as it has been shown to increase the student’s likelihood of completing their work. “One thing our data showed is that if a student had an adult that cared about and was checking in with them on a regular basis, they were more likely to turn in their homework, they were more likely to do their best work, they felt more comfortable asking for help,” said Ms. Gavin. The district is following CDC guidelines on the exclusion of sick students and for the restriction of community spread. The severity of community spread will determine what model will be put in place. The district is working hard to make these plans work, but it is still a work in progress. If you have any questions or concerns on the plans please feel free to contact the district office. |
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