Mt. Pleasant board debates masks or no masks on buses

With the new school year set to begin in a little over a week, Mt. Pleasant schools Superintendent John Henriksen relayed the Iowa Department of Health’s latest COVID-19 guidance for schools.

Henriksen said that IDPH released the two-page guidance update on Aug. 5.

“I felt it was important to touch base on this,” Henriksen said.

The most notable change in the guidance has to do with whether masks would be required on school buses.

According to the new state health guidance, the CDC’s Feb. 1 order imposing a requirement for people on public transportation does apply to school buses.

That is a departure from guidance issued by the Iowa Department of Education in May, which said that the order did not apply to school buses.

“That’s kind of the rub to all of this, because the answer to that from IDPH is yes,” Henriksen said. “Our legal counsel’s opinion on this, as of late last week, is that school districts in Iowa are really in a position where requiring masks on buses is really an unenforceable requirement.

“Their opinion is to err on the side of Iowa law.”

Legislation signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds on May 20, prohibits a school district from adopting or enforcing a policy that requires employees, students or the public to wear a mask while on school property.

“That is current Iowa law that we cannot stop,” Henriksen said, adding that the district will still “absolutely support” anyone’s decision to voluntarily wear a mask in school buildings.

On the subject of illness reporting, IDPH is asking schools to report when more than 10 percent of students are absent due to illness.

“That was something that was familiar to us all last year as it specifically related to COVID, not only for students but also staff,” Henriksen said. “Whether it was flu or COVID or whatever, we report when a building has a greater than 10 percent absenteeism.

“Our nurses have done that for years. That’s what we’ll continue to do.”

The state health agency, however, will no longer issue quarantine orders for individuals who test positive for COVID-19 or those who have been exposed to the virus.

The recommended times for anyone who tests positive remain the same: 10 days since the first symptoms appeared, 24 hours of no fever without the use of fever-reducing medications and other COVID symptoms are improving.

“That has not changed,” Henriksen said. “Those recommendations to return to school, we still have in place.”

Henriksen said that new state laws have made most districts’ return-to-learn plans obsolete, but the Mt. Pleasant district has put together a health services update.

“Most of this was taken from our return to learn plan and how we will handle, going forward, cleaning, canceling school due to illness,” he said. “We will continue to use additional health and hygiene measures as we did previously.

“Our cleaning procedures using supplies and disinfectant for high contact surfaces, the hygiene for hand-washing — those things will continue to stay in place.”

He said that the district has tweaked its no-visitors policy that was in place last school year.

“Nonessential visitors are discouraged from visiting the school building during the school day,” Henriksen said. “Exceptions can be made by the building administrator.”