What's New at Dubuque Community Schools

Dear Families,

As you know, we have been closely and continuously monitoring the COVID-19 situation in our schools and community.

Our hybrid learning model continues to work as designed. Our ability to operate this model from the beginning of the school year through Thanksgiving is a testament to the staff and students who have continued to make this model successful. At the same time, we have seen significant spikes in COVID-19 cases following holidays and want to be prepared for a spike following Thanksgiving.

A PREVENTATIVE ACTION STEP
Following Thanksgiving, we plan to temporarily move to remote learning for ALL STUDENTS for ONE WEEK from Monday, Nov. 30, through Friday, Dec. 4.

• The district has applied for a waiver from the Iowa Department of Education for this move.
• Additional details about remote learning and meal availability during this time will be shared in upcoming days.
• Our intent is to return to hybrid learning on Monday, Dec. 7.

WHY TAKE THIS STEP?
This move is designed to provide an extra layer of protection to students and staff, as the vast majority of individuals will exhibit symptoms within 10 days following exposure.

• Again, this measure is NOT due to spread of COVID-19 in buildings.
• This move to remote learning will provide a 12-day break from in-person instruction and 10-days post-Thanksgiving.
• We recognize that this is an inconvenience, but it will have great long-term benefit in allowing us to continue in-person learning moving forward.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR FAMILIES?
We understand that this temporary move will require adjustments for families.

• Fully online students will continue instruction on these days as scheduled.
• For those in the hybrid model, this move will require families to make arrangements for students to be at home during that week for two additional days (A-day students) or three additional days (B-day students).
• During this time, we urge families to continue taking the necessary steps to social distance, wear masks and to monitor for any symptoms.
• Any individuals who develop symptoms should follow the steps outlined in the district’s COVID-19 Response Protocol.

Our ongoing mitigation strategies, combined with enhanced preventative restrictions across the county/state and optimistic news on the horizon regarding vaccine development, will allow this break to set us up to move forward with as little disruption as possible in the future.

Thank you for playing your part to slow the spread of COVID-19 in our community and for your ongoing support of our students.

Sincerely,
Stan Rheingans
Superintendent

Iakwe DCSD Baamle ko im Rijerpal ro,

Einwōt ami wōj jelā ke, jej loe an laplok nan̄inmij in COVID-19 iloan jukjukin pād in adwōj im belaak in Iowa in. Im, ippān 14-raan in positive rate eo an Dubuque County emōj an le jen 20% jon̄an eo jaar jab kōtmen, emōj bōk elōn̄ uaan kajjitōk ko kin jorāān in an COVID-19 ilo jikuul ko ilo ad wōnmaanlok wōt.

Ilo ien in, jenej wōnmaanlok wōt kin Hybrid Model in jikuul eo ippān lok bareinwōt katak wōt online eo jikin n̄an ro rej kōnan kālōt e.

The Strong mitigation strategies (akō wāwein bōbrae im kadriklok jorāān ko) emōj an bōk jikin ilo belaak in district in (ekadredreik lok kōnaki māāj ko im kōttolok droon ilo jabdrewōt jikin ko ilo jikuul eo) enej wōnmaanlok ilo ad kōkajoor lok mantin ejmour eo im kōjpārok eo an rijikuul ro im rijerpal ro ilo aer pād iloan jikin jikuul eo.

Jerpal eo an Hybrid ar kōmman tok jen ar jelā ke COVID-19 emōj an kar pād iloan jukjukin pād in, im kim ej kōtmen bwe ewōr ruo wāwein ko kim maron̄ in kajjeon̄ bōbrae wāwein in:

1. Eitōn aolep ien, contact tracing (akō wāwein jelā wōn im wōn ar bōk nan̄inmij in kab jen ia) emōj aer loe ke ro rar ak rinan̄inmij ro iloan district in ilo makūtkūt ko im wāwein ippān droon ko, ar alikkar ke ejjab itok jen jikin jikuul ko akō makūtkūt ko an jikuul im emōj kar karōki
   • Im ekkā wōt an walok, ej ekkejel lok wōt ippān jabdrewōt armij jen juōn kabijuknen eo im ar nan̄inmij tok ako jen ar kar koba lok ilo jikin kweilok ko rellap – emaron̄ bar jikin ko reddrik!
   • Lale lok COVID-19 Dashboard eo an district in, enej kwalok wōn im wōn, jikuul ta kab uaan rinan̄inmij ro im emōj an ajedred ilo belaak in district in.
2. Absentee rate (akō rijikuul/rijerpal ro ren kar pād ilo jikin jikuul eo ak reban) itok jen aer nan̄inmij ilo jon̄an ko rejjab emman. Kar ruo wiik emoot lok, district in ar loe 3% laplok in nan̄inmij in rijikuul ro eitōn aolep raan.

Elukun laplok ammim bulōn̄ kin wāwein an rijikuul ro im rijerpal rein kajjeon̄ dreploke elōn̄ kain oktak ko im elap ammim mōnōnō kake aer pokake im loor aolepen kakien kein an ejmour im kōjpārok kein emōj bōk jikier.

BOTAAB, EJ TO WOT KITIEN.

Einwōt ad tōmak ke jikin jikuul ko rej jikin katak ko an rijikuul ro, remman im ejjelok jorāān ie, im kim ej bōtaab ekkōl wōt im inebata kin an kajoor laplok in COVID-19 nan̄inmij ko iloan jukjukin pād in im belaak in Iowa in. N̄e jeban kōkōmanmanlok ad kajjeon̄ bōbrae ro jet im kij make jen nan̄inmij in ilo jukjukin pād in adwōj, aolepen uaan bwinbwin kein rej walok, enej laplok ad loe an wallōn̄lok im eddrōklok wōt im kōmman an ben lok mour ilo jukjukin pād in.

Kim ej kajjeon̄ ilo jon̄an wōt ad maron̄ n̄an lemaanlok jōkjōk ko ilo model in katak kein adwōj. Ilo ad wōnmaanlok wōt, jenej lale lok bwinbwin ko an COVID-19 iloan jikuul ko im bareinwōt jukjukin pād in. Jenej bareinwōt bebe maan lok ikijjeen jabdrewōt wāwein ad kepooj imaan, n̄an adwōj maron̄ in rool lok n̄an jikuul im katak n̄e ejjelok uata n̄an rool akō kōmakut kilaajruum ko, jikin jikuul eo ako district eo n̄an jikin katak eo emake lok iaan n̄e ebar wōr jabdrewōt utamwe.

N̄AN DREBIJ WŌT KATAK KEIN, ELUKKUN IN LAP AIKUJI JIBAN̄ EO JEN KWE ILO TŌRE IN!

N̄e elaplok bwinbwin ko ilo jukjukin pād in, enej kaaban̄ lok attendance levels (akō an rijikuul/rijerpal jere ilo jikin jikuul) ko an district karōk rijerpal ro, ilo an bareinwōt kaaban̄ lok healthcare system eo an jukjukin pād in – aolepen nej an kakkure wāwein ad naaj lemaanlok bedbed in jerpal kein.

JEMARON̄ UKOT LOK JIBADBAD IM KŌTTŌBAR KEIN, BŌTAAB JEJJAB AIKUJ IN TOTO PĀ.

Joij, ilo etan rijikuul rein im rijerpal rein, kwalok am meanwōd:

• Kanōk juōn am māāj im kōttolok eok am makūtkūt.
• Kadriklok loe lok jikin kweilok ko rellap.
• Kwal peim.
• Ilo koba lok ko, kajjitōk ippam make “ta wāwein in elikit ke n̄a, baamle in aō akō ro jet ilo uata ke?”

Einwōt juōn jukjukin pād eo, kōl eo emman n̄an kadriklok an ajedred COVID-19 ej juōn men eo n̄e jooj ippān droon kake epidrodro n̄an ukot lok. Kommol elap kin am bōk ijo konaam aolep ien.

Sincerely,
Stan Rheingans
Superintendent

Dear DCSD Families and Staff,

As many of you know, we continue to see COVID-19 cases increases in our community and our state. And, with Dubuque County’s 14-day positivity rate breaking the 20% threshold, we have received a number of questions about the impact of COVID-19 on schools moving forward.

At this time, we will continue to operate in our hybrid model with the fully online option in place for those desiring it.

The strong mitigation strategies in place across the district (including mandated mask wearing and social distancing in school settings) continue with daily reinforcement to ensure the health and safety of our students and staff while they are in our buildings.

Our hybrid system was designed with the assumption that COVID-19 was present in our community, and we feel confident in maintaining this model at this time for two key reasons:

1. In almost every instance, contact tracing efforts have linked positive cases in the district to activities or interactions unrelated to school or school-sponsored activities.
   • Most frequently, this is tied to another household member being positive or from attendance at a social gathering – even small ones!
   • A look at the district’s COVID-19 Dashboard shows that active, positive cases are widely spread out across the district.
2. Our absentee rate due to illness remains within normal limits. Over the past two weeks, the district has averaged a daily student absentee rate due to illness of just over 3%.

We continue to be amazed with how well our students and staff have adapted to the many changes and are so proud of their ongoing commitment to following the health and safety protocols in place.

BUT, WE ARE NOT OUT OF THE WOODS.

While we believe schools are a safe learning environment for students, we remain very concerned about the upward surge of COVID-19 cases in our county and state. If we do not enhance personal mitigation practices throughout our community, all current data indicates we will see the surge continue to grow and put immense pressure on our community.

We are doing everything in our power to maintain consistency in our learning model. As we move forward, we will continuously monitor COVID-19 data in our schools and community. We continue to plan for a variety of future scenarios, including plans to move back to fully in-person learning when it is safe to do so or to move classrooms, buildings or the district to fully remote learning should conditions necessitate.

TO MAINTAIN CONSISTENT LEARNING, WE NEED YOUR HELP NOW MORE THAN EVER!

If community numbers continue to rise, they have the potential to impact district staffing and student attendance levels, while also putting additional strain on our community healthcare system – all of which could jeopardize our ability to maintain consistent operations.

WE CAN CHANGE THE COURSE, BUT WE CAN’T LET OUR GUARD DOWN.

Please, on behalf of our students and staff, be diligent:

• Wear a mask and social distance.
• Limit indoor gatherings.
• Wash your hands.
• In every interaction you have, ask yourself “Does this behavior put me, my family or others at risk?”

As a community, the ability to reduce COVID-19 transmission is a challenge that we collectively have the power to change. Thank you for playing your part in doing so.

Sincerely,
Stan Rheingans
Superintendent

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.

View the DRAFT 2021-2022 School Calendar

View the DRAFT 2022-2023 School Calendar

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.

Who is Timberline and Why Did They Have My Child’s Information?

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.

What Happened?

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.

What Information Was Involved?

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.

What is Being Done in Response to 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.

What Can Impacted Individuals Do?

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.

• You can view the most recent count of active cases in the district on our COVID-19 Dashboard, which is updated daily and provides the most accurate count of confirmed active cases in the district.

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.

• We anticipate the state reported 14-day positivity rate for Dubuque County may exceed 15 percent. We also anticipate that an increase of positive COVID-19 cases in our community will result in an increase of cases among students and staff.
• The district’s current daily student absentee rate due to illness is approximately 4 percent, which does not indicate that a move to remote education would currently be permitted by the state.
• Based on these indicators used by the State, at this time we will continue to operate in our hybrid learning model with the many enhanced safety protocols in place across our district.

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:

• County data includes a broader geographical area than just the Dubuque Community School District.
• As of this afternoon (Tuesday, Sept. 22), positive, active cases in the district equate to .41 percent of the 10,000 students and staff tracked on the district dashboard.
• Based on contact tracing in collaboration with the Visiting Nurse Association, the overwhelming majority of these cases can be linked to interactions that occurred outside of the school day or through non-school-sponsored activities.
• There is currently no indication of any spread within the school environment.

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:

• Consistent and correct use of masks
• Social distancing to the extent possible
• Hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette
• Cleaning and disinfection
• Contact tracing in collaboration with local health department

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.

VIEW ATTENDANCE INSTRUCTIONS

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.

VIEW THE COVID-19 DASHBOARD