Board member David Decker raised ….
Board member David Decker raised several questions about the possibility of students and staff being quarantined, especially when it comes to those considered “close contacts.”
“At this point, with cases as low as they are and the facts that we know about COVID, our students are not really at much risk,” he said. “So, my concern is more with the quarantines. I’d really be disappointed if we had the same kind of quarantine that we did last year because that, I believe, is much worse for our students than COVID.”
Superintendent Steve Kolden said he is worried about the misinterpretation of common symptoms, such as a runny nose and cough, leading to kids being sent home for a 14-day quarantine.
“Once we hit fall, we’re always going to have the normal flu stuff,” he said.
Last school year, Kolden said school districts had to do a lot of contact tracing whenever a student or faculty member tested positive. He said the Clark and Marathon county health departments simply didn’t have enough staff to handle all of the necessary COVID tracking right away.
“We were contacting parents and sending kids home, and then two days later, Clark County would start sending them letters,” he said.
Kolden said the district will continue to report close contacts to the Clark County Health Department, but it will be up to public health officials to decide whether to order a quarantine or not.
Decker said he hopes the decisions “lean toward” keeping students in school as much as possible rather than forcing them to stay at home for prolonged periods of time.
“I know we do a lot of leg work for the county...” Decker said.
“Too much,” Kolden interjected.
“I think some of that should be put back on the county and let them make that decision — and try to keep our kids in school as much as possible,” Decker said.
When Decker asked about class schedules for the upcoming school year, Kolden said middle and high school students will be following a block schedule with slight modifications made since last year. Mondays will be a regular eight-period day, giving each teacher a chance to see all of their students at the start of the week; for the rest of the week, classes will be split into four 90-minute block periods that meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays or Wednesdays and Fridays.
The block periods allow more time for labs, physical education and other activities that normally are cut short during regular class periods. Kolden said the transition to block scheduling has been a long time coming, and last year’s COVID experience just accelerated its adoption.
“We’ve talked about block scheduling since I started here 12 years ago,” he said.
When it comes to non-school sports activities, use of the high school pool and concession stands, all of those things will return to normal, pre-COVID operation. However, all non-school activities, such as booster club and youth sports, will be required to assign an “event manager” who will be in charge of helping with contact tracing and other procedures related to a COVID outbreak.
Masks may still be required on school buses, since they are considered public transportation and are governed by federal law. Kolden noted that the current mask order for public transportation expires as of Sept. 14.
The back-to-school plan was not on the agenda for approval Monday night, and Kolden said he is still gathering input from other superintendents and anyone else who has suggestions.
“I’m open to feedback on all of this,” he said. “The biggest thing that’s out there right now is what do we do with quarantines and what do we do with kids are symptomatic in school.”
The Colby School Board plans to vote on the plan at is next meeting on Aug. 16.
_ The board accepted the resignations of custodian Jacob Pearce, special ed. aide Susan Hubing, middle school swim coach Erin Lindau, and Bryon Graun as the district’s educational technology coordinator.
_ The board approved the hiring of Monica Dukelow as FFA co-advisor, Christine Wright and Sarah Oehmichen as co-advisors of the high school students council and Dante Kleinschmidt at the district education technology coordinator. Trisha Colby-Schwantes was transferred to 4-year-old kindergarten.
_ The board approved a trip to Orlando, Fla., March 8-14, for the show choir and band to compete in the FAME Show Choir Competition and perform at Disney World.
_ Kolden pointed out that a preliminary draft of the 2021-2022 budget calls for an increase of about $500,000 over this past school year. He said the projected $13.6 million in expenditures factor in estimated increases in staffing costs, health insurance, and lights and heating.
The budget is a “worst-case scenario” at this point, and it’s likely that expenses will come in below projections, he said.
“We try to budget aggressively and spend conservatively,” he said.
_ The board approved the second reading of two policies, one which will reduce the public speaking limit from five to three minutes and another that will update how unused district property is disposed of if it was originally acquired using federal money.
