The Dubuque Community School District has released draft calendars for the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years.
The online feedback form for these draft calendars is now closed.
The district Board of Education will host a public hearing about the calendar on Monday, December 14, at 5:30 p.m. at the Forum, 2300 Chaney Road.
Out of an abundance of caution, we are writing to inform you of a data security incident involving Timberline Billing Services, LLC (“Timberline”). Dubuque Community School District takes the security of student information very seriously, and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this incident may cause. While we are unaware of any actual misuse of student information, we are providing you with information about the incident, Timberline’s response, and the steps you may take to better protect against possible misuse of your / your child’s personal information, should you feel it necessary to do so.
Timberline provides Medicaid reimbursement billing services for covered IEP services to 190 school districts in Iowa, including Dubuque Community School District. In September 2020, Timberline notified Dubuque Community School District that Timberline experienced a cybersecurity incident which resulted in the exposure of personal information maintained by educational institutions and processed by Timberline. Dubuque Community School District was first notified of this incident by Timberline on September 2, 2020.
On March 5, 2020, Timberline noticed suspicious activity on its network impacting certain servers and systems. Timberline launched an investigation to determine the nature and scope of this activity. Working with outside computer forensics specialists, Timberline determined that an unknown actor accessed Timberline’s network between February 12, 2020 and March 4, 2020, encrypted certain files, and also removed certain information from Timberline’s network; however, the investigation was unable to determine which specific information was actually removed. Therefore, out of an abundance of caution, Timberline undertook a comprehensive and time-intensive review of all files that could have been impacted. This review was recently completed and determined that protected health information and/or personal information relating to student information was present in files that may have been compromised. This incident did not involve any access to the district’s internal systems or student records.
Based on the information we have received from Timberline, Timberline’s investigation determined the following types of student information may have been involved: name and Medicaid ID number, Social Security number, billing or claims information, date of birth, diagnosis or symptom information, support service code & identification number, driver’s license number and state identification number and treatment information. To date, Timberline is unaware of any actual or attempted misuse of personal information as a result of this incident.
The security, privacy, and confidentiality of student personal information are among our highest priorities. Upon learning of this incident, Timberline moved quickly to investigate and respond to the incident, assess the security of relevant Timberline systems, and identify potentially affected individuals. Timberline also reported this incident to law enforcement. Timberline is taking steps to enhance the security of its systems in addition to the robust security measures already in place including upgrading all servers and firewalls, resetting all user passwords and requiring frequent password rotations, and migrating school and student data to a cloud location.
While we are unaware of any misuse of anyone’s information as a result of this incident, we are offering affected students access to 12 months of minor identity monitoring through Experian at no cost to you.
Timberline has established a dedicated assistance line for individuals seeking additional information regarding this incident. Individuals seeking additional information may call toll-free assistance line at (844) 439-7669. This toll-free line is available 8:00am to 10:00pm CT Monday through Friday, and 10:00am to 7:00pm CT Saturday through Sunday, excluding U.S. holidays.
Prescott Elementary School staff were surprised with a $20,000 donation from Dubuque Bank and Trust, through its partnership with the national non-profit organization, AdoptAClassroom.org, to kick off World Teachers’ Day on October 5.
“Dubuque Bank and Trust is a long-time supporter of Prescott Elementary School and we are so grateful for this significant gift made through their partnership with AdoptAClassroom.org,” said Vicki Sullivan, principal of Prescott Elementary School. “We look forward to determining how to spend the funds to maximize the benefit to our students and school community.”
The funds are intended for the school to purchase much-needed tools and materials, so they can successfully and safely continue to operate, whether students are learning in the classroom or remotely from their homes.
“These are such challenging days for our K-12 educators, wrestling with how best to stay safe while keeping their students connected and engaged in learning,” says Lynn “Tut” Fuller, President and CEO of Dubuque Bank and Trust. “K-12 schools are the cornerstone to a healthy and productive community. We want to play our part to help.”
About Dubuque Bank and Trust Company
Dubuque Bank and Trust Company (DB&T), a subsidiary of Heartland Financial USA, Inc., (NASDAQ: HTLF), is a state chartered bank with more than $1.8 billion in assets and serving customers in the Tri-State region of Dubuque County in northeast Iowa, portions of Grant County in southwest Wisconsin and Jo Daviess County in northwest Illinois. The bank operates six branch offices in Dubuque County. The bank specializes in business lending and deposit services, and provides a wide variety of personal credit and deposit services along with complete electronic banking programs. For more information visit www.dubuquebank.com or call 877.280.1851. DB&T is a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and an Equal Housing Lender.
About Heartland Financial USA, Inc.
Heartland Financial USA, Inc. is a diversified financial services company with assets of $15 billion. The company provides banking, mortgage, private client, investment and insurance services to individuals and businesses. Heartland currently has 113 banking locations serving 82 communities in Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Arizona, Montana, Colorado, Minnesota, Kansas, Missouri, Texas and California. Additional information about Heartland Financial USA, Inc. is available at www.htlf.com.
About AdoptAClassroom.org
We are a national, award-winning nonprofit that provides the most flexible and accountable funding for K-12 teachers and schools throughout the U.S. Our proprietary, easy-to-use education fundraising platform helps teachers, principals, and administrators give every child the tools they deserve to succeed in school. Since 1998, we have raised $39 million and supported 5.4 million students. As a 501(c)(3) organization, we hold a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator and a platinum rating of transparency from GuideStar. For more information, or to make a donation, please visit www.adoptaclassroom.org.
Dear Dubuque Schools Families and Staff,
As a district, we continue to closely monitor data related to COVID-19 in our community and our schools.
We also closely follow the indicators included in state guidance – the 14-day county positivity rate and student absenteeism due to illness.
According to guidance from the Iowa Department of Education, districts may request a temporary move to remote learning only after the county in which the district resides has a 14-day positivity rate as reported by the state exceeds 15 percent AND there is a greater than 10 percent student absentee rate due to illness.
As we closely review all data indicators related to COVID-19, it is also important for us to examine what each indicator measures and how these data points relate to each other. As we do so, we must take into account the following considerations:
SAFETY AT SCHOOL
In the district, we have worked continuously to ensure that safety measures are in place in our schools. In fact, looking at the latest school-based mitigation indicators released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) last week, we fall into the lowest risk factor based on our implementation of the following five mitigation strategies:
WE NEED YOUR HELP!
We can’t do it alone. We need your help in reversing the trend in our county. You can have a direct impact on our ability to continue providing educational and extracurricular offerings for students.
Please follow social distancing, wear face coverings and continue to follow hand washing and sanitization recommendations. We can turn the curve in Dubuque County and continue providing our students with in-person learning opportunities, but we will only do it together.
Sincerely,
Stan Rheingans
Superintendent of Schools
The Dubuque Community School District is pleased to announce that beginning Monday, Sept. 21, ALL STUDENTS in the Dubuque Community School District will receive NO-COST meals at school thanks to an extension of the USDA Summer Food Service Program.
This includes all meals served at district schools, and also includes the district’s four meal Grab n’ Go locations. The four meal pick-up locations will also now operate as open meal sites and will serve any individual 18 or under (with no infant formula or food served) at no-cost regardless of whether or not they are enrolled in a district school.
In order to help properly account for distribution, we still encourage the use of elementary student meal cards and middle/high school ID cards when getting meals from a Grab n’ Go location.
No-cost meals will continue for students until December 31 OR until funding for the program is depleted. When we are notified that the program will be ending, we will share that information with families.
All funds currently on meal accounts will remain in place and will be available for use after the extension ends. Students will still be able to purchase milk-only or a la carte items with available funds on their meal account.
As we move through the 2020-2021 school year, we are asking students or parents/guardians to check-in via Infinite Campus to record attendance daily for students in the fully online program and on at-home days for students in the hybrid program.
As a district, we are committed to providing transparent, accurate data regarding cases of COVID-19 related to the school environment while also maintaining the ongoing confidentiality of our students and staff.
To do this, the district has launched a dashboard to show the number of ACTIVE, POSITIVE COVID-19 cases in the district.
Our Mobile Registration School Bus is hitting the road to provide assistance for Dubuque Community School District families still needing to complete online registration for the school year!
Join us at one of the following times/locations:
Thursday, August 13, from 1-3 p.m.
Bee Branch (in the parking lot near the 22nd Street Bridge)
Note: A Marshallese interpreter will be available at this time.
Friday, August 14, from 10 a.m.-noon
Comiskey Park
Note: A Spanish interpreter will be available at this time.
Friday, August 14, 1-3 p.m.
Flora Park
Note: A Spanish interpreter will be available at this time.
Computers will be available and district staff will be on hand to support families. Social distancing measures will be in place and masks will be required.
You can also REGISTER ANYTIME ONLINE.
We look forward to seeing you at our Registration assistance events!
On Monday, Aug. 10, the School Board approved the amended school calendar that officially moves the school start date to the originally scheduled date of Monday, Aug. 24.
An updated calendar is now posted, as well as a version that designates A/B days for those students in the hybrid learning model.
At its meeting on Monday, Aug.10, at 5:30 p.m., the School Board will hold a public hearing to consider moving the school start date to the original date of MONDAY, AUG. 24.
The meeting is open to the public with a small number of seats available in person at the Forum, 2300 Chaney Road, or with virtual access via Zoom.
VIEW THE MEETING VIA ZOOM
The event passcode is: DCSD@2300!
Full Zoom details are below.
VIEW THE PROPOSED AMENDED CALENDAR
ZOOM MEETING DETAILS:
https://dbqschools.zoom.us/j/81975538813?pwd=VjcxZXBISXllVHJnV1A0MWdneFVJQT09
Passcode: DCSD@2300!
Or Telephone:
US: +1 646 558 8656 or +1 301 715 8592 or +1 312 626 6799 or +1 669 900 9128 or +1 253 215 8782 or +1 346 248 7799
Webinar ID: 819 7553 8813
Passcode: 5333643655