Decorah schools could go to partial remote learning through the end of the year

The Decorah School Board will hold a special meeting at 6:00 Monday night in the Decorah Middle School Media Center to discuss a proposal to change the school district's  learning model between Thanksgiving and New Year's.

School Superintendent Mark Lane explains schools "would transition to remote learning for all students the week of Monday, November 30th through Friday, December 4th.  We would then transition back to full on-site learning for the weeks of Monday, December 7th through Friday, December 11th and Monday, December 14th through Friday, December 18th.  We would finish our last two days of learning in December as remote learning days on Monday, December 21st and Tuesday, December 22nd.  Our intention would be to return to full on-site learning when we return from Winter Break on Monday, January 4th."

Lane says he is making the recommendation because COVID-19 data for the state, county, and school district are trending in the wrong direction.  He says, "I don't want to wait and then need to cancel school, or only be able to give families 24-hours' notice before the transition to remote learning."

As these numbers have increased, the Decorah School District has watched the number of students and staff needing to quarantine or isolate increase. It currently has the most staff out for quarantine or isolation at any point this school year. The number of staff absenteeism for quarantining/isolating combined with the general staff absenteeism leads to challenges to ensure full coverage of daily staffing needs. A week of remote learning will enable quarantining staff to teach remotely, and hopefully will allow for the number of staff requiring quarantining to settle back to a more manageable level.

Says Lane, "If we wait and fall into a reactive position, it is more likely we would need to submit a waiver request to the Iowa Department of Education to move to remote learning for two weeks. If that occurred, we would also be required to suspend all athletic and extracurricular activities for the period in which we are in remote learning. A one-week period of remote learning does not require approval from the state, and we are not required to suspend all athletic and extracurricular activities. Our students will be able to continue extracurricular engagement during our remote learning week. If we have a contest or concert scheduled, we will be able to have the event under the spectator limits and mitigation practices dictated by the governor's proclamation."