Gov. Reynolds: School’s out

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

With the announcement last Friday that schools in Iowa will not reopen this spring, Charles City administrators and teachers have been making plans on how to finish the school year.

During her daily press briefing Friday morning, Gov. Kim Reynolds announced that Iowa schools will not reopen this spring due to COVID-19 mitigation efforts. The decision includes the cancellation of spring sports activities.

“School districts will be required to continue to provide continuous learning opportunities for their students until the end of the school year,” Reynolds said.

Through May 21, Charles City High School will be implementing weekly updates to Google Classrooms to provide voluntary learning opportunities for all students, feedback from teachers within 24 hours when they are contacted by students Monday through Friday and communication to all students a minimum of once a week via phone, email, video, etc, the district announced Monday.

Current seniors will receive pass/fail grades based on what they completed in their classes prior to the COVID-19 shutdown. Colleges have agreed to accept pass/fail grading on transcripts due to the COVID-19 situation.

Seniors who currently have a failing grade in a class will be given the opportunity to recover their credit during a set credit recovery period from now through May 15, the school district said.

Charles City is eliminating the two-week grading window for second semester to allow students the opportunity to makeup or reassess any work from the semester. Students are responsible for contacting their teachers to arrange for credit recovery.

Students who are taking classes virtually are expected to complete all online credits prior to graduation.

Students who entered the semester on track to graduate and who receive passing grades for their current classes will still graduate on time, the district said. Students who are currently in credit recovery will need to complete all additional credits to receive their diplomas.

Students wishing for specific additional learning opportunities to prepare themselves for college are encouraged to reach out to their teachers.

All students who complete the necessary requirements for graduation will receive their diploma in the mail.

“Charles City is committed to having a commencement ceremony once the restrictions for COVID-19 are relaxed,” the district said. CCHS will communicate this well in advance so open houses can be planned accordingly.

“We will have a graduation ceremony, even if it’s at a future date,” Charles City High School principal Bryan Jurrens said last week. “That’s a celebration, that’s a culmination of years of work.”

Students in grades 9-11 will also receive pass/fail grades based on what they completed in their classes prior to the COVID-19 shutdown, with a credit recovery period through May 15.

Since Charles City uses a virtual platform for summer school, it will still be in session during the summer months. Students who need to recover an entire credit from their high school career are encouraged to participate.

Those students should contact Larry Wolfe (lwolfe@charlescityschools.org) to sign up. Students who are eligible for extended school year services (ESY) will be contacted with specific information about their situation.

Teachers and staff in the school district were informed Friday they would continue to be paid through the end of the school year, and that they should make plans to continue voluntary continuous learning opportunities for students through May 22.

“We know this isn’t the news we as a family wanted to hear, but it is the responsible decision with the data we have at this time,” the teachers were told, regarding Reynolds’ decision.

The school district said it will continue with all of the family services it has been providing, including food service, the food BackPack program, voluntary teaching and learning, the help desk for district technology, virtual mental health appointments and regular communication.

“During this time we will continue to provide voluntary continuous learning opportunities through May 22,” the school district stated.

Charles City said it will have more information in the near future, including how students can get their items from school and updates on middle school and elementary grading, teaching and learning.

The district encouraged students and parents to feel free to “just ask” if there are needed items or services, such as food, toilet paper, or additional teaching and learning resources.

The district said there are community partners who are willing to help the Charles City Community Schools family, and anyone with needs can email cccsd@charlescityschools.org.

“As a Comet family, we will make it through this unprecedented time,” the district said. “Even though we aren’t physically together, we are united in these challenges.”

In her announcement Friday, Reynolds said Iowa’s 327 public school districts will be required to provide virtual learning opportunities for the rest of the school year. She said closing schools for the rest of the year was not an easy decision.

“Under normal circumstances it would take months to develop continuous learning plans,” she said. “We did it in a matter of weeks. Each of our school districts submitted plans just one week ago.”

The governor and the Iowa Department of Education also announced that the state of Iowa will:

• Require schools to submit a Return to Learn Plan by July 1 outlining ways they will address disruptions to learning as a result of COVID-19. This could include summer school, enrichment activities or other opportunities to address the needs of learners.

• Waive the requirement that schools start no earlier than Aug. 23, allowing school districts and nonpublic schools to make local decisions about the length of their 2020-2021 academic year.

“The Charles City Community School family joins with your family in getting this disappointing news,” the school district said in a press release on Friday. “We know that even though we won’t physically be together right now, we look forward to this fall when we can return to school safely.”