Return To Learn Plan Status
July 16
River Valley Return to Learn Plan to be Finalized on Aug 5th
Greetings River Valley Family,
I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing to provide you with the status of the River Valley Return-to-Learn Plan for the reopening of school for the 2020-2021 school year.
We have received guidance from the Iowa Department of Education and our local Department of Health for providing education in a healthy and safe way. The difficulty is merging the two together. As guidance and data are updated it means refining our plan. We had a district leadership team (DLT) meet in early summer to start planning where we built a skeleton plan with details to be fine-tuned.
At the July 14th board meeting, the River Valley School Board discussed River Valley’s return to school. In an effort to have the most up to date information and make the best choice for starting school we will have a planning meeting on August 4th with the DLT. We will finalize details for our plan and the school board will review and potentially modify and approve on August 5th. Registration has been moved to August 10 to allow us necessary time to update materials.
We are sending out a survey to the community to help us understand the needs and expectations of our parents, students, and staff, which will be helpful in finalizing our plans.
We understand parents need more information for their own planning. We want to get that to you as soon as possible but we don’t want to be premature with the ever changing COVID-19 situation.
Overview of Tentative Plan:
1. We are preparing three different models for 2020-2021 school year. Depending on local health concerns we may need to move from one model to the other throughout the year.
a. On-Site Learning Model – all students would be in school and the district would have processes and procedures in place to mitigate against the virus.
b. Hybrid – in this model, some students would be on-site learning while others would be home learning. If this is the case, then we have students split up into groups with respective schedules to be on-site and off-site. This may also be used when most students are in school and there are some who are unable to be in school due to health concerns or other reasons of their own or family.
c. Required Continuous Learning- Off-Site- Students would not attend school and would learn at home either online or using other instructional materials. Staff would support students virtually and through other learning materials.
2. Our first day of school is Monday, August 24. We will be operating in one of the three models listed above. It is likely that we will be using an on-site learning model, but conditions may dictate that we be in another learning model. The decision will be made in consultation with the Community Health Partners and the Iowa Department of Education.
3. Stay Home if you are not feeling well! This goes for students and staff and we can’t emphasize this enough!
4. Face Coverings – at this time our plan does not require, but certainly welcomes masks or face coverings. The school will have a mask for every staff member and student. We will also have masks and face shields for every staff member. This may change based on updated guidance from the Department of Public Health and the Department of Education.
5. We are exploring options for providing the safest transportation possible. Social distancing is obviously very difficult on the bus. Those who are able may want to consider transporting their own children personally. Students on the bus will have assigned seating so they continue to be clustered together.
6. A key part of the plan is to cohort students as much as possible where students are with the same students/grade with little crossover through the day. This will be a challenge but helpful in mitigating risk.
7. We will continue to develop health and safety procedures as well as cleaning and disinfecting procedures that will be in place for the 2020-2021 school year.
We have a survey which can be accessed here for you to complete online, which will help us make our final plans. We look forward to the new year starting. We do ask for patience as we plan for returning to school as there is much to be considered. Please remember that our plan after being shared may change as school gets closer and even after we are back in session. Stay safe and be well.
Respectfully,
Kenneth Slater, Superintendent
RIVER VALLEY CSD
Registration - August 10 and August 11 - TIME TBD
Elementary Hallways Repainted
Elem/HS Offices New Carpet and Painted
HS Hallways and Elementary Cafeteria with New Epoxy
River Valley CSD
Email: kslater@rvwolverines.org
Website: www.rvwolverines.org
Phone: 7123724656