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Marshalltown Schools end hybrid learning

contributed photo — Marshalltown schools will end their hybrid learning for grades seventh through twelfth on Feb. 16.

Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill into law Friday morning requiring Iowa schools to offer a 100 percent in-person learning option along with a 100 percent virtual learning option.

Marshalltown Schools will end their hybrid learning option for grades seventh through twelfth on February 16, and will have two weeks to prepare for a 100 percent in-person learning option.

“We are not equipped with the staffing or the resources to effectively manage three different learning plans at the same time,” Marshalltown Schools Superintendent Dr. Theron Schutte said.

An email sent Friday to parents and guardians of children within the Marshalltown Community School District notified them of the governor’s decision, and asked parents and guardians to respond to a survey within five days asking what learning option their child will take so the district can prepare.

Marshalltown Schools already has offered a 100 percent virtual learning option for all students. Students learning under the in-person option attended school full time at the pre-kindergarten through sixth grade level, but students learning in-person in grades seventh through twelfth attended school on a hybrid schedule.

The hybrid schedule allowed for an “A” and “B” group of students to attend school on alternating days while learning virtually on off days, reducing the total number of students in the building to minimize the risk of COVID-19 spread.

Superintendent Schutte said the risk for COVID-19 spread hasn’t changed a lot since their hybrid learning model has been in place, but the district must comply with state law regardless.

“We’ve been thinking about and planning for this, but we weren’t expecting to have this directive this quickly after having been originally told that we’d have local control over our return to learn plan,” Schutte said.

The district originally planned to return to a 100 percent in-person learning option for middle school and high school students during the fourth quarter of the school year when all of Marshalltown Schools’ employees received a COVID-19 vaccination, which was slated to happen from February to March.

“My greatest disappointment is the fact that for whatever reason, our educators have not been a priority with the vaccination distribution,” Schutte said. “If in fact kids getting back to school everyday was of critical importance, educators like in many other states should have been a higher priority to get vaccinated.”

Knowing the district can’t guarantee an employee or student with COVID-19 will not be in a school building, the district’s strategy has been to mitigate the potential negative effects of COVID-19 spread with measures such as a mask requirement, social distancing, desk shields, limiting building capacity and having no social gatherings outside of the classroom during school.

Schutte said the school has been successful at minimizing the impact of COVID-19 so far, but risk will increase when hybrid learning ends.

“I feel like some of these decisions are being made knowing that some people are going to benefit and some people could be significantly negatively impacted by the decisions,” Schutte said. “That being said, we are going to move forward and do everything we can to provide a high quality education in as safe a way as possible.”

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