Manhattan-Ogden school board members reviewed last minute details of the district’s reopening plan before school begins next week.
Superintendent Marvin Wade used this time Wednesday to clear up confusion with the plan. Wade says the percent positive rate in the county for cases is not the end all factor in forcing the switch to all distance learning.
“That is not good for families, that is not good for staff. When we do go from one approach to another, we want to give at least a week’s notice and that does take into consideration things like that the numbers are updated on Monday from the previous two weeks on the percent positive rate,” he said.
Wade says he has received comments from the public saying that if the percentage drops below five percent before school starts, then they will go complete on site. In reality, Wade says they are staying in hybrid as the school year begins. If there are any changes to the learning methods, the district will give a one-week notice for any changes.
“We’re not just going to just have knee jerk reactions to numbers going up and down in one week’s time unless Riley County Health Department tells us this is something we have to respond to. We also look at where those numbers are at,” he said.
Assistant Superintendent Eric Reid, speaking on In Focus Wednesday said the district has no plans of allowing students to switch the groups they are assigned to nor would the district allow students to switch between the on-site or remote learning options.
Masks will be required of everyone entering the building. Exceptions will be only for medical purposes. That information will be kept confidential to protect privacy of those individuals.
“We are going to take care of those who are supposed to be masked. We’re going to demand that. It’s one of our requirements that our city and district set out. It’s how we can say safe and stay face-to-face as long as possible. When we see people without there’s reasons why and those reasons are private, generally,” he said.
The reopening plan is a living document and likely will continue to change as the school year approaches. It can be found here.
Other items that came up during Wednesday’s meeting:
- The Manhattan-Ogden USD 383 school board approved the budget for fiscal year 2020-21 with a slightly lowered mill levy. No public comment was received following Wednesday’s public hearing and passage of the budget. The total budget authority is just over $48.2 million and includes a 61.636 mill levy, a reduction of 0.5 mills from last year’s budget. It includes the $8.3 million in state aid for special education.
- The board also approved an increase to substitute teacher pay for the upcoming school year due to concerns they may be used quite a bit more than in previous years, due to virus concerns. The rates are increasing from $12 to $15 an hour for emergency substitutes. The rest of the pay scale will be $17 an hour for certified substitutes, $21 an hour for administrative or principal substitutes. Job Corp sub pay rates will be $1 more than the adopted USD 383 hourly rate.
- RSP Associated presented the latest on redistricting, primarily focusing in on feedback they’d received from the previous three months. One option discussed was potentially having more students assigned to Ogden Elementary and having seven schools eligible for Title I status. Developing new boundaries within the two middle schools was also part of that feedback. An enrollment analysis update should be provided in November with a public input opportunity at that time.
