February 1, 2021
Burlington, Ia- The Burlington Community School District will soon be returning to in-person learning full time.
Governor Reynolds recently signed into law a bill that required schools to offer students 100% in-person learning. On Friday, January 29th, the Burlington School Board voted to return to 100% in-person instruction beginning on Monday, February 8th.
The school will continue certain virus mitigation practices such as requiring masks throughout the day and social distancing where possible. Frequent handwashing and use of hand sanitizer will also be encouraged. Students and staff who are experiencing symptoms of the virus are asked to stay home.
Students who have been utilizing the virtual learning option will be able to continue doing so for the remainder of the school year. Others who are interested in this option should review the Virtual School Option Handbook, available on the Return to Learn webpage on the school’s website and contact
Burlington schools to resume 100% in-person learning Feb. 8
That means eight hours a day, five days a week.
The Burlington School Board s unanimous decision Friday to pivot from the hybrid model it has been operating under since the start of the school year to 100% in-person came shortly after Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law a bill requiring that schools offer a full in-person option. A bill was passed yesterday and signed today into law that s going to require us to give parents the option to return 100% if they choose, school board president Joel Sieren said Friday during an emergency board meeting ahead of the vote. In conversations we ve had previously with the administration team, there s no way that we re going to be able to pull off both hybrid and meeting this law at the same time.
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School officials meet with F&M Bank CEO and Black Leadership Council representatives
The president of F&M Bank and Trust met Wednesday with school officials and representatives of the Burlington Black Leadership Council to discuss how to resolve damage done by a vice president s words.
The Hawk Eye
Burlington School Board members serving on a joint committee met Wednesday with the president of Farmers and Merchants Bank and Trust to learn what progress the bank has made in mending relations with minority communities.
The committee, made up of members of the district s business and community relations committees, was established in November in response to a social media comment posted by Lisa Walsh, a vice president of F&M Bank, that targeted then-vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris and was perceived by many as racist and sexist.
2020 Year in Review: Schools ride COVID-19 s wave of uncertainty
The Hawk Eye
2020 was the year of uncertainty and resilience for educators, parents and students as schools struggled to balance safety and quality education amid a global pandemic. 2020 was an astonishing challenge, Burlington School District Superintendent Pat Coen said. And it was an astonishing reaction by students, teachers and families.
The year began much like any other for area schools as students returned from winter break to resume their studies, but across the world, a virus was spreading. On Jan. 20, the U.S. saw its first confirmed case of COVID-19. Not long after, on March 8, Iowa reported its first three cases.
The Hawk Eye
The president of the Black Leadership Council on Monday called on the Burlington City Council to sever ties with a local bank over a racist Facebook post made in November by one of the bank s vice presidents.
Addressing city council during its regular meeting, the Rev. Rob Brown, pastor of the Hope Temple Christian Church and president of the 16-member council that formed about two months ago in the hopes of making Burlington a better community for their children, expressed his frustration over the city s continued business with Farmers & Merchants Bank & Trust after one of the bank s vice presidents, Lisa Walsh, called Vice President-elect Kamala Harris a minority slut in a Facebook post in early November.