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Superintendents from five school districts in Cedar Rapids and Marion sent a joint letter to Gov. Kim Reynolds Monday asking for more vaccines to be allocated to the state’s priority populations, which includes K-12 staff.
The superintendents are asking for more doses of the COVID-19 vaccine as the state’s Feb. 15, deadline quickly approaches for schools to offer the option of 100 percent in-person learning to all students.
The letter was signed by Cedar Rapids Superintendent Noreen Bush, College Community Superintendent Doug Wheeler, Linn-Mar Superintendent Shannon Bisgard, Marion Independent Superintendent Janelle Brouwer and Xavier Catholic Schools Superintendent Kim Hermsen.
“You have shown the public that returning students to fully in-person instruction is a state priority,” the letter states. “In this context and on behalf of our 6,365 metro area educational employees we urge you to place full priority on protecting our pre-K-12 school students, their families an
With more students returning to classrooms this month under a new state law requiring that option, some Eastern Iowa school leaders say they are concerned about maintaining social distancing in class raising fears of increased exposure to COVID-19.
In the Iowa City Community School District, students have had the choice of either hybrid learning attending in-person in either A or B days and attending online on the opposite days or online learning.
But with less room for social distancing as more students return, Iowa City schools Superintendent Matt Degner is among those concerned the district will see an influx in the number of both students and staff having to quarantine.
The district will create its own project-based learning program
A student walks past an entrance next to the 11/12 school office at the new South Commons and entrance at Linn-Mar High School in Marion, Iowa, home Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2017. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Superintendent Shannon Bisgard is photographed Aug. 9, 2018, at the Linn-Mar Learning Resource Center in Cedar Rapids. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)
Trace Pickering, executive director of Iowa BIG, gives the keynote address Sept. 21, 2017, during The Gazette’s Iowa Ideas conference at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Cedar Rapids Convention Complex. (Liz Martin/The Gazette) /
MARION Ending a five-year partnership with Iowa BIG, the Linn-Mar Community School District is breaking ties to create its own project-based learning program.