MPCSD plans to pay employees through school shutdown and keep school year end date at May 29

MT. PLEASANT - The Mt. Pleasant Community School District's Board of Education approved motions to keep the school year's end date set at May 29 and continue to pay various groups of district employees through the four week hiatus that has been enacted in response to the coronavirus outbreak. The board also approved a sack lunch service, which will provide students meals through the closure.

The board met in a special meeting on Wednesday afternoon to discuss how to move forward as schools in the district have tentatively closed for four weeks. Currently, students are expected to return to classrooms on April 13.

Superintendent John Henricksen explained to the board the amount of mandatory hours of instruction students must receive each year. In accordance with what is required by the Department of Education, students must receive 1080 hours of instruction. Before the closure the students of the district had completed 790.75 hours. If the district were to pick up on April 13, teaching full 6.5 hours a day, students would complete 1011.75 hours by May 29. In total, students would lose about 15 days of instruction with the May 29 end date.

Board members posed questions about how students would 'catch up” in curriculum with the lost instructional days. Director of Instruction, Kathleen Gavin, noted the focus would be on adjusting curriculum and looking ahead at content that would have to be addressed the following year. During the shut down, Gavin anticipates teachers will be working on figuring out how to proceed with the rest of the school year.

Addressing a potential shift to online learning, Henriksen said online learning 'cannot be required for credit,” per the Department of Education. The other issue the district would face is providing Individualized Education Plans for students with special needs or need special supports. Though the district has not moved forward with online learning, Gavin noted there are resources available for parents and students while they are at home. Curriculum vendors the district uses has offered to provide training and supports free of charge. The district is working on compiling the resources and making them available to families.

The board voted to amend student contact hours and keep the set end date for the school year at May 29.

Following discussion on the amended calendar, the board also discussed contract hours and pay for teachers, paraeducators and janitorial and food service staff. Henriksen noted teachers are on a 187 day contract and had completed 132 days at the point of the closure. Along with teachers, paraeducators are also paid through a 12 month period for hours worked. Henriksen's recommendation was to continue paying the two groups of employees and figure out contractual obligations when school resumes.

Board member Willy Amos expressed concern about what fulfilling contractual obligations will mean for teachers.

'Are we expecting teachers to go longer to fulfill those contractual obligations or not? I also want our teachers to be able to enjoy what they have coming up so they're ready and refreshed for when we get back to our kids and go back to school,” Amos said.

Henriksen noted the fulfillment of those obligations may look different and may include extra training or professional development. He also explained the details of fulfillment of the obligations do not have to be included in the motion passed that day. The superintendent went on to say the same contractual obligations would be expected to be fulfilled by bus drivers and food service workers.

The third group of employees the board discussed was buildings and ground custodial workers. Henriksen explained the recommendation by the district's legal counsel was to put the group on paid administrative leave during the closure so that the workers can be called back 'on a moment's notice” to clean and disinfect when schools prepare to reopen.

The board decided to vote in favor of paying the employee groups through the anticipated closure time.

At the meeting, the board also officially approved the grab-n-go sack lunch program, provided through the USDA Summer Food Program. Henriksen noted students and families can grab meals from Salem Elementary School and Mt. Pleasant Middle School from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The program started Wednesday and served over 200 students the first day.