Decorah School Board realizes it needs to make school calendar decisions soon

Decorah School Board members are feeling the urgency to make decisions on several items relating to the school calendar.  After meeting for 80 minutes Tuesday night to discuss a variety of issues, the board agreed to hold a formal meeting at 5:15 p.m. Thursday to vote on makeup days and whether to hold a 2020 Prom.

The State of Iowa has waived the requirement that missed school days must be made up at the end of this school year, which means the Decorah School District is not required to make up the 20 days of missed school ordered by Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

But Decorah School Board member Brian Petersburg said Tuesday night, "our duty is to get as many instructional days as possible."  Petersburg said the school board should handle this spring as if the school district had taken the usual number of four or five snow days.  Assuming that the four weeks of no school will be adequate to stem the tide of coronavirus, classes could resume on April 13th, which is now on the calendar as part of Spring Break.  Classes are scheduled to end May 29th, but the school board could add instructional days the first week in June.

One of the factors pushing the school board to make a decision is that teachers and support staff are still receiving pay this week.  Almost all school district employees have a contract to work a certain number of days, so any changes in that schedule would require adjustments.  School board members agreed with Board President Ron Fadness that, "our best (choice) is to keep paying" employees during the 20-day layoff.  But the school district needs to know whether additional costs would be incurred if makeup days were added to the schedule.

Finally, school board members Tuesday night also briefly discussed the 2020 Decorah High School Prom, which is scheduled for April 18th.  If the school board wants to cancel this year's prom, it should do so quickly, because students are already buying dresses and renting tuxedos.  Community groups typically do fundraising to cover many costs of prom, so those groups need to know early as well.  Decorah School Board members say they'll take a vote on Thursday evening on whether prom should be held this year.