WCSD taking precautionary steps to address coronavirus

WASHINGTON - The Washington Community School District as well as other area schools are taking measures to address the potential spread of the coronavirus.

Superintendent Willie Stone updated Washington school board members on what the district plans to do to protect students and staff at their Wednesday evening meeting. Stone said he was working with all the schools in the county to send out a unified letter to parents about what to expect and how schools are addressing the issue.

'Right now it's the same as trying to avoid getting the flu,” Stone said.

The countywide letter was sent out Thursday and noted 'normal operations [would] continue for the foreseeable future.”

The letter also stated the 'Washington County Public Health Department has asserted that the risk to students and staff is minimal” and the current situation does not warrant closing down schools.

The districts within Washington County intend to follow the direction of the Iowa Department of Public Health should the situation change and directs parents and guardians to the IDPH and CDC for the most updated information on COVID-19. The letter was signed by Ken Crawford, Highland and Lone Tree Community School District's superintendent; Mark Schneider, Mid Prairie's superintendent; Rebecca Clarahan, St. James School's principal; Chris Armstrong, WACO's superintendent; and Stone.

Stone also noted the district has purchased foggers for each building as an extra preventive measure. The district has ordered four smaller hand-held foggers as well as two backpack foggers.

'What these will do is give a mist in the air that is full of disinfectant. As it lands, it dries in five minutes and is said to kill influenza A, influenza B and COVID-19 at the same time,” Stone explained.

The district is working with L.J. Roth, who will be fogging the schools until the district receives its own foggers as well as training staff on how to use the equipment.

'COVID-19 hasn't hit us at all yet. And I say ‘yet' because just like any sickness, it's probably going to happen but the thing we're really struggling with is Influenza A right now. That's the main reason I want to get the foggers in here and we'll continue to do that to make sure we are as proactive as possible,” Stone added.

The superintendent said any places students come in contact with, including busses, will be fogged down.

During the superintendent's report, Stone also touched on what a 2.3% supplemental state aid would mean for the district.

'At 2.3%, we're about $100,000 short of the money we got last year. It doesn't mean that we're in terrible shape, it just means we have to pay attention,” Stone said. The board will hold their budget meeting on April 8.

At their March meeting, the board also approved revisions to the district's service special education delivery plan and the addition of a high school dean of students position.

Samantha Brinning, the special education director, explained the largest change was the algorithm to determine each teacher's case load.

'Our previous case load determination looked solely at how many minutes the student was in special education,” Brinning said, 'The weighting just didn't seem to match the needs that our students have.”

The new algorithm would look at the amount of individual education plan domains a student has and consider how much specially designed instruction that a student needs.

For the dean of students position, Stone again explained it was simply a separation of what had previously been one combined position with the athletic director position. Stone estimated the salary for the position would be $80,000 to $85,000, but would only be costing the district an additional $65,000 overall.