Last night, both chambers of the Iowa Legislature passed a bill requiring schools to return to fully in-person instruction on Monday, Feb. 15, and this morning the Governor signed the bill into law. Given this, we are moving forward with plans to resume fully in-person instruction on that day. As you know, we have been actively planning for this transition.

SAFETY MEASURES

As a district, we remain committed to providing the safest possible environment for our students and staff. We will maintain many of the significant mitigation efforts that have been in place throughout the school year, including:

  • Consistent and correct use of masks
  • Hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette
  • Cleaning and disinfection
  • Contact tracing in collaboration with local health department

Our ability to maintain one of our other key strategies – social distancing – will be most impacted by a required move to fully in-person learning. While we will continue to maximize our spaces and provide social distancing to the extent possible, it is important to know that our ability to do so will be greatly reduced when students return to school daily. This includes classroom setups, lunch configurations, and while on school buses, among others.

With social distancing ability reduced, our collective diligence in maintaining the safety measures listed above will be essential in our continued mitigation efforts.

LEARNING OPTIONS

With the move to fully in-person learning, the district will discontinue its hybrid learning option. Beginning February 15, the district will offer two learning options for the remainder of this school year:

  • Fully Online
  • Fully In-Person

IMPORTANT NOTE: For planning purposes, we are assuming that students in the hybrid model will move to fully in-person learning, and students in the fully online model will remain in that learning option.

IF YOU PLAN TO STAY IN THE LEARNING MODEL AS NOTED ABOVE, NO ADDITIONAL ACTION IS NECESSARY.

If you wish to move from fully in-person (previously hybrid) to fully online, or from fully online to fully in-person learning, COMPLETE OUR LEARNING TRANSITION REQUEST FORM NO LATER THAN WEDNESDAY, FEB. 3.

As we move forward, the safety of our students and staff remains at the forefront of our decision making and we will work hard to make the transition as seamless as possible.