Governor’s proclamation will require ‘tweaking’ Charles City schools’ fall plans

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

It’s not exactly starting over, but some changes will be needed in the Charles City School District’s plans for fall learning options after a proclamation by the governor last Friday, district officials said Monday.

The Charles City Board of Education had on the agenda for its meeting Monday night a discussion of the district’s plans to resume classes that offered the options of onsite learning, remote learning or a hybrid of the two.

It was based on a plan that dozens of staff members and others in many groups had been working on for months. Draft plans had been presented to the public.

But things potentially changed when Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a proclamation Friday saying that school districts in the state should prepare to “safely welcome back students and teachers” to the classrooms and that especially with core subjects the expectation is that more than 50% of the teaching will be done in the school buildings.

“Given the importance of education to our children and to the people of Iowa, we owe it to them to just roll up our sleeves and get our schools back up and running safely and effectively,” Reynolds said.

“Iowa law says that in-person instruction is the presumed method of instruction for the school year,” she said. “The Legislature has made it clear that most schools cannot provide more than half of their instruction to any student through remote learning unless I authorize remote learning in a proclamation.”

At Monday night’s school board meeting, Superintendent Mike Fisher said the proclamation affected “some of the plans we thought pretty strongly about,” and would require some adjustments in the district’s “Return to Learn” plan.

Marcia DeVore, the Lincoln Elementary School principal who has been chairperson of the Return to Learn effort, gave the board an overview of the plan as it had been drafted, then talked about how the governor’s announcement might change things.

“The governor’s proclamation made it clear that schools needed to focus on onsite learning for students, and that has certainly been our focus as we’ve made these plans,” she said. “We know that we want to be able to move from one to another as the public health situation warrants, but our goal has always been to have students back on campus so that we can learn together.”

DeVore said part of the district’s plan does not meet the governor’s proclamation that hybrid plans should have at least 50% of the instruction on campus.

The district’s pre-kindergarten to fourth grade hybrid plan had all on-campus instruction, but for fifth through 12th graders it called for students to be in class two days a week and learning remotely three days a week, or on campus 40% of the time.

“So we know that we’ve got to come back and do a little bit of tweaking with that plan to think about how is that going to work for our students, for our families, for our staff,” she said.

DeVore said that remote learning is still an option for any family that wants it.

“For those families who feel that remote learning is the right option for them, whether we are back on campus in a full onsite model or in a hybrid model, remote learning has always been an option in our plans for those families,” she said.

DeVore said any family thinking about having their children taught remotely when school starts should check the appropriate box on registration packets they will be getting in the mail.

“You check that box and you will be contacted by building principals to talk through that learning process with you. We want to make sure that we’re reaching and taking care of all of our students, because regardless of who you are or what your story is, Charles City is a place where you can learn and be loved, she said, referring to the district’s mission statement.

Fisher said the goal is still to let people know by July 31 which option the district has chosen to start the school year, and he expects the Board of Education will formally approve the plan at its meeting Aug. 10.

Also at the meeting Monday evening, the board:

• Got an update from Fisher on a recent incident of racist comments being directed at a Charles City athlete at an away game. (See separate story on this website).

• Discussed the future format of board meetings and decided to continue offering an electronic option for board members or members of the public who want to attend the meeting remotely.

• Approved the resignations of Darren Bohlen, 7-12 business education teacher; and Hailey Brown, high school counselor and varsity volleyball coach.

• Approved he appointments of Erica DeBruyn as assistant drama coach; Brittany Brewer as seventh grade volleyball coach; and Shelby Crane and Sarah Blickenderfer as assistant spirit team coaches.

• Approved the transfer of Keisha Cunnings from pom squad coach to head spirit team coach.

• Added an assistant varsity cross country coach because of the number of students out for the activity.