But as confirmed cases of COVID-19 within the district have remained relatively low, the district is stretched increasingly thin as teachers and staff are identified as close contacts and quarantined. District superintendent Mike Kolness warned the school board on Monday that the resulting staff shortages could become untenable.
"I'm very concerned," he told the Herald Tuesday. "Not having enough staff members in our buildings to function properly might shut us down before case numbers."
Referencing discussions with the district's COVID-19 incident command team, he suggested that perhaps the time has come to survey parents for a second time to gauge feelings about moving to a more restrictive learning model. Speaking with the Herald Tuesday, he said a new survey is in development and is expected to be sent out by the end of the week.
East Grand Forks parents were surveyed prior to the beginning of the school year, and most -- about two-thirds -- expressed that they were "comfortable" or "very comfortable" with in-person classes.
The county's 14-day average number of COVID-19 cases per capita, which the state health department uses in its recommendation for district learning models, has nearly quadrupled since then, from 8.86 the week before school started to 33.24 on Friday.
"I've had many people talk to me about making sure we try to keep kids in school," Kolness said. "But I've also had more people in the last day or two talk to me about: You need to take a look at this. The number is over 30. Why haven't you switched?"
The East Grand Forks Public School District remains in the learning model it started the school year with: Elementary school students attend in-person classes every day, while middle and high school students attend in-person classes and distance learning classes on alternating days in order to keep the school buildings at 50% capacity.
At the beginning of the school year, that model was "conservative," Reese said. On the state's progressively more restrictive five-tiered learning model recommendation based on case numbers in individual counties, Polk County met the criteria for the first level and least restrictive model. Anticipating rising case numbers, the school board followed the recommendation of Polk County Public Health to start the school year on the second level. The county now meets the criteria for the fourth level, or a hybrid learning model for elementary school students and full-time distance learning for middle and high school students.
The Polk County Public Health COVID-19 Response Hub, updated weekly, most recently shows there were 130 active cases in the county on Thursday, Oct. 22, an increase of 109 since Oct. 15.
There have been 18 confirmed cases in the district since the beginning of the school year, Kolness said. That number is limited to people who were physically in school buildings during their infectious period.
On Monday, 255 people were absent from the school district for coronavirus-related reasons, which could include testing positive or being identified as a close contact. Those absences included 224 students, 25 teachers and paraprofessionals and six other district staff members.
Driving the large number of absences were two full classes that are quarantined -- one pre-K class and one New Heights Elementary School class -- as well as a portion of one athletic team and students and drivers on two bus routes. Kolness identified New Heights Elementary School as a particular area of concern on Monday, with 11 teachers and paraprofessionals and 25 students absent that day.
The staff shortages Kolness referred to are perhaps most dire on school bus routes. Kolness paused during his report to the school board to tell board members that district transportation director Debbie Delisle had texted him to inform him that three routes would have no bus drivers the following morning. By the end of the meeting, one driver had presumably been found and the number of unstaffed bus routes had dropped to two -- but those routes would likely remain unfilled for the rest of the week, Kolness said.
East Grand Forks school bus drivers are part-time district employees, and the bus driver shortage in the district predates the pandemic, though it has been exacerbated by COVID-19. In the past, the district might have relied on substitute drivers, but those substitutes aren't there now, Kolness said.
He expects the district will increasingly rely on parents to transport their children to school. He recalled one recent instance when a teacher drove out to pick up two young students who didn't have another way to get to class. Kolness said he believes it's likely the two routes canceled this week won't be the last.
"We're in crisis mode," he said.
School board members have repeatedly said they would attempt to keep students in classrooms as much as possible for as long as possible, but have agreed that they wouldn't shy away from considering a more restrictive learning model should circumstances necessitate it. Monday night, several board members expressed support for surveying parents about their feelings on a more restrictive model.
"I feel comfortable with the current recommendation. It's just more of a staffing issue when people are quarantined and off having been in close contact," said board member Lindsey King. "That looks like the biggest dilemma - not necessarily the number of cases in the kids, but the amount of staff we have available as the backups for backups. That pool runs dry."
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October 28, 2020 at 04:00AM
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Though 'comfortable' with case numbers, East Grand Forks school board talks more restrictive learning models amid staffing shortage - Grand Forks Herald
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