Liam HalawithMaroon Echoes News As Southeast Iowa’s coronavirus cases and positivity rate continue to skyrocket, Mt. Pleasant Community School District is keeping an eye on the numbers and continuing with full Face-To-Face instruction.
According to Superintendent John Henriksen, the district is continuing with Face-To-Face or in-person instruction until the district sees a rise in infected students or staff. “We are committed to our families to stay face to face as long as our kids are healthy and we have enough staff,” Henriksen said. According to the district’s return-to-learn plan, a move to a hybrid learning model would have to be triggered by the county positivity rate being between 15 and 20 percent and an absenteeism rate of over 10%. The absenteeism rate is determined only by students out due to illness and does not include those quarantined due to potential exposure to the virus. As of Monday, November 9th, Henry county sits at a 19.8% 14-day rolling average positivity rate, and 1,258 cases. The district is seeing high attendance rates, between 94% - 98%, at all buildings; meaning that students are not being affected drastically by the county’s community spread. However, the district is seeing an increased number of students being asked to quarantine due to family members contracting COVID-19. As of Friday, November 6th, the district has 33 high school students, 16 middle school students, and at least 32 elementary school students out due to quarantine. The district also faces an issue with staff absences. According to Henriksen, last week they saw 4 staff members absent at the middle school; however, the district was able to get substitutes to cover their absence. Mr. Henriksen explained that if there are lots of staff absences they would consider a hybrid model. This is due to the decrease of students in attendance every day allowing them to spread staff resources to make up the difference. The district has seen no cases of coronavirus transmitted inside school buildings. Many attribute the lack of transmission in schools to their mask mandate in all district buildings. “If the reason for that [no transmission in schools] is our mask mandate, it is a good reason to continue it,” Henriksen said. If the district were to transition into a hybrid learning model, grades Pre-K through fifth grade would attend in-person every day, but the district would space them out in the elementary buildings. This would require the district to utilize alternative spaces as classrooms including the library, cafeteria, gym, and other spaces. Sixth grade through 12th-grade students would attend every-other-day, alternating between in-person and virtual learning. The student body will be divided in half by the last name, into “Maroon” and “Gold” days. The plan calls for students in the same family to attend on the same day. Students with special needs, no internet, or other accommodations would attend school every day. These plans would allow the district to space out students to help prevent the spread of coronavirus in the classroom. Should the district decide going to hybrid is necessary, Mr. Henriksen said the district has a level of flexibility in implementing the learning model and would most likely opt to go hybrid in specific school buildings or grade levels rather than implementing a districtwide switch. “We would like to address where the issue is [rather] than go across the whole district,” Henriksen said.
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