Administrators addressed rumors about the Carroll Middle School transitioning to a hybrid education model at Monday’s Carroll Community School District (CCSD) Board of Education meeting. Superintendent, Dr. Casey Berlau, says there are no plans to make any changes to the in-person model currently in place for fifth- through eighth-grade students.
According to Berlau, everyone from district administrators to teacher associates want students to have access to in-person education, acknowledging full remote learning is their least preferred model in the board-approved Return to Learn plan. He adds almost every adjustment made throughout the district has been done with the intent to keep students in front of teachers as much as possible. COVID-19 cases and quarantines picked up at the high school near the beginning of September, leading the district to enact a hybrid model at that location. Principal, Tammie McKenzie, says it was a difficult call to make, but she believes the switch allowed for in-person education to continue.
Based on data from public health departments, Berlau says most of their positive cases or exposures resulted from events or situations outside the district’s control. In comparing student absences to those from around the same time last year, Berlau says there is not a substantial difference when counted in the manner laid out by the Iowa Department of Education.
Student absenteeism due to illness, which is a metric the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) uses to measure the severity of an outbreak at a building, is reported to the state when it reaches 10 percent. Berlau says the highest rate they have seen so far is five percent and that was only for a single day. The high school will remain in the hybrid model through the end of the month and the district will make an announcement no later than Friday, Sept. 25 on whether that will continue into October. Full audio from Monday night’s meeting can be found included below.
FULL AUDIO:
