At the school board meeting held Monday, January 10th the board heard from the school principals about recent events held at their schools, and progress on ongoing endeavors. Before tackling some pressing issues, ranging from the purchase of needed equipment for handicapped students, designation of an official newspaper of record, and the vaccination issue that was before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Elementary School principal Jared Carder spoke about the preschool family night event, which had been a great success. He also had good news to report about the no child hungry program, which had delivered bags of food to many kids in need. Also discussed was the winter open house held by Mrs. Conaway, and other holiday festivities, including a visit from Santa.
Acting middle school principal Josh Schild spoke on events at the Robert Blue Middle school, and administrative matters. And joined high school principal Heidi Vasquez in thanking the Eagle Grove police department for their vigilance during the recent Tik-Tok threats affecting schools across the nation. Vasquez also thanked the school board for their efforts, delivering a card of thanks.
The board voted to formally accept three resignations, and to renew the designation of the Eagle Grove Eagle as the system's official newspaper for 2022. The board then voted to approve the purchase of a skid loader, and a new wheelchair lift for the high school, noting that the existing wheelchair lift is worn out and doesn't meet the needs of students who will soon be studying in the building.
A public hearing was then held about the planned elevator addition for the administration building. There being no public comments, the public hearing was quickly adjourned. Next the board opened the hearing on the allocation of ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) III funds, intended (according to a US. Department of Education fact sheet) "to help safely reopen and sustain the safe operation of schools and address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the nation’s students". Again, after no public comments, the public hearing was closed.
The board then approved a renewal of the school system's business association agreement for medicaid billing with Claimaid.
Then came the tense portion of the meeting as Superintendent Jess Toliver walked the elephant into the room, opening a discussion on the issue of President Biden's vaccine mandate, which was before the Supreme Court. Noting that the state of Iowa had rejected the federal plan, and the Supreme Court had not yet acted as of the time of the meeting, Tolliver pointed out that it may be unclear what the board should do, legally speaking. Pointing out that depending on what the court did, there might be a 90 day delay to contend with due to OSHA rules, and it may all necessitate an emergency hearing in the future.
Discussing the federal mandate, Tolliver made it clear that the board should be clear with all teachers and staff, "if you're going to get an exemption," such as on religious or medical grounds, "back that up with facts." Tolliver added that "the school board is not political. We follow the laws."
Tolliver then recommended that the board hold a first reading of the policy for now, and opened the floor up for a motion to do so. But no motion was heard, and after a long pregnant silence, the board moved on.
Next was discussed how well a medical emergency at a recent basketball game had been handled, with the school principals and the board agreeing that the matter had been handled well, and congratulations were in order to all involved for a job well done.
February 27th was then tentatively designated as the likely day to observe Aaron Eilerts day.
Finally the board closed in on Superintendent Tolliver's report. Tolliver echoed the earlier thanks offered by the middle and high school principals to the Eagle Grove police department and also the Wright County Sheriff's department for their support during the Tik-Tok threats. It cost a lot of money, using a lot of resources due to social media that could have been used for education, Tolliver pointed out, but noted that the school staff and authorities had risen to the challenge, and did what needed to be done to keep the students safe.
In closing, Tolliver discussed how Covid had made school operations very "touch and go", due to a limited number of substitute teachers available as teachers are exposed and must quarantine, noting that the same problem existed with respect to bus drivers, team coaches, and sports referees. If exposed to COVID or test positive, Tolliver said, students can "return to learn" after the required quarantine period, if they wear a mask for five days in accordance with the new CDC guidelines, which Eagle Grove's schools are observing.
On Thursday the 13th, in a move bound to be controversial no matter what, the Supreme Court blocked the Biden administration's emergency federal rule that required school districts and other large employers to mandate the vaccination of employees. Meaning that the district will not need to implement the mandate, and no emergency session to do so will be necessary.
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