Keota, Mid-Prarie see successful first day

Keota and Mid-Prairie saw success in their return-to-learn plans on the first day of the new school year.

After closing in early March, the schools worked to create a plan to keep kids and staff safe during the coronavirus pandemic.

On Monday, they got the chance to see the plan in motion for the first time.

Keota Superintendent Jim Henrich said the first day went well and things will get smoother every day.

Henrich said the start of the day went well and every day they will get better at organizing students for lunch and busing.

Currently, Henrich said it is too early to tell if things need to be changed, but they will make changes as needed.

The school has six kids who have preexisting conditions taking virtual learning, but the rest of the students were in school.

Henrich said it was awesome to see the kids after months of being away.

Mid-Prairie Superintendent Mark Schneider said they had a good start to the school year. The district has school buildings in Wellman and Kalona and includes the community of West Chester.

Schneider said he visited all of the buildings on Monday.

He said the transportation and bus routes worked and students were cooperative.

'A lot of them had to adjust to new procedures,” Schneider said.

The only problem that arose in the day was an air conditioner in part of the East Elementary School went out but a technician put a temporary fix in Tuesday morning.

At the moment, no kids are out of school due to COVID-19, but there are two children out due to quarantining.

District data, as well as county data keeping track of cases and positivity rates are available on the Mid-Prairie school district website under COVID-19 Data.