Legislators visit Mt. Pleasant School Board

State Sen. Jeff Reichman, R-Mt. Pleasant, and State Rep. Joe Mitchell, R-Mt. Pleasant, visited the Mt. Pleasant School Board Monday evening to discuss several issues.

The covered issues included public education funding, the retainment of teachers, workforce shortages and COVID-19.

One of the first topics talked about included the mask mandates in schools.

Reichman and Mitchell both gave their opinions on the matter.

Both felt that wearing a mask should be up to the parent and that a mask mandate was not the right option.

Mitchell commended the school district for acting quickly on the issue and "doing things the right way" in getting students back into in-person classes and not implementing masks when the state didn't require it.

The next topic that was discussed revolved around the shortages of workers around the state and country.

Mitchell attributed part of the issue to the federal government.

"Every industry is dealing with workforce issues," Mitchell said. "In my opinion, the federal government has not done a great job of trying to help the workforce issue. They're encouraging folks to still not go back to work, which I think is a problem. We're trying everything we can on the state level."

One of the most talked-about topics was on the shortage of teachers.

Mt. Pleasant Community School District Superintendent John Henriksen said that teachers, especially paraeducators and special education teachers, are hard to find.

Mitchell stated that it's essential to find a way to incentivize students that teaching is a noble profession, as it shapes the future leaders of this country.

Some of the proposed solutions from the board included increased pay. It was stated that education majors are leaving the field for jobs in retail due to better pay.

Another solution was to provide loan forgiveness to education students after college to help them get started with less debt.

Discussion continued with a talk on broadband in rural areas. The discussion circulated around families not having good enough internet in country areas. The issue is that it makes it hard for students to complete work or fully engage in content.

Reichman said that he was dumbfounded that parts of Mexico had better internet than here.

"Yeah, I was surprised," Reichman said. "I went to Mexico, and they had better Wi-Fi down there than we have here. I was shocked."

Part of the issue described focused on the accuracy of the maps that label specific areas with a tier.

One board member stated that the maps were inaccurate as they showed he was getting better internet than he actually was.

Both Reichman and Mitchell were asked how they would ensure the accuracy of the maps.

They each said that they were unaware of the inaccuracy in the data but would make it a point to look into the matter.

Mitchell reiterated his thanks to the district for bringing students back as soon as possible, so students that live in rural areas and don't have great internet have a chance to use school facilities.

Regarding the mask mandate, both Reichman and Mitchell believed that the ruling allowing schools to implement a mandate would be overruled.

Comments: hunter.moeller@southeastiowaunion.com