Fairfield dropping online-only Wednesdays in response to state law

FAIRFIELD - The Fairfield Community School District will alter its Wednesday schedule in response to a state law requiring the district to offer 100 percent in-person instruction.

In January, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds announced that she would sign a law giving every student in the state the option of a full, five-day-a-week education in person.

The Fairfield Community School District had switched to a nearly full in-person schedule on Feb. 1, inviting students to the classroom every day but Wednesday, which was to be an online day for teachers to contact students individually and to focus on the district's students who are taking their courses completely online.

Until that day, some or all of the district's buildings had been practicing the hybrid model where half the students were in the building and the other half were taking classes online.

The Fairfield School District announced that, in order to comply with the new law, it would convert Wednesday into an in-person day like the other four days of the week beginning the week of Monday, Feb. 15. However, students will be dismissed at 2 p.m. Wednesdays so teachers can use part of the afternoon for lesson planning and attending to the online students.

Students who have chosen the fully online option may continue with that, unless they have failing grades, in which case they will be required to attend in person.

Those who wish to change their learning model must do so by 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 13, by contacting Judy Jones at judy.jones@fairfieldsfuture.org or by calling the central office at 641-472-2655.

The district announced that it will continue to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 by requiring wearing masks and encouraging hand washing and social distancing whenever possible.