Hello all,
It has been a few weeks since I have sent home an update on our school district and COVID-19. Before the break, on December 18, our positivity rate in Monticello was 12.8%. Today the positivity rate for Monticello is 19.4%, which is just a little higher than the Jones County positivity rate of 14.9%. Over the last 7 days there have been 20 cases of COVID-19 in Monticello. The good news is that the numbers we are seeing in the schools right now are pretty good. We are going to just keep moving forward and keep our fingers crossed that the numbers stay manageable for us.
Health care workers have already started receiving the vaccine in our area. The most current information I have is that our school staff will still receive the first dose of the vaccine at the end of January or beginning of February. Just hoping that everything stays on schedule. No word yet on any vaccine for children. I will be sure to update you when I know more.
Governor Kim Reynolds issued an updated proclamation yesterday that included attendance at extracurricular activities. The away events for this weekend will not be changing their attendance rules, however, Monday we will issue some new information on attendance at events in the Monticello Community School District which will increase our attendance and also honor the Governor’s requirement of 6 ft of social distancing at each event. Thank you for your patience as we draft that information to get it out to you on Monday.
Our updated numbers for this week are as follows:
- We currently have approximately 7 students and 2 staff in isolation (these people have tested positive for COVID or are showing COVID symptoms) and approximately 10 students and 2 staff in quarantine (these people have been exposed to someone with COVID-19, not necessarily at school). That is less than 2% of our student body and less than 1% of our staff that is out for COVID-19 related reasons. These are really good numbers.
- We still have many students participating in online learning. As of today, we have approximately 187 prek-12 students participating in full online learning or hybrid online learning. That is approximately 19% of our student body taking one or more online courses. This number has dropped some as students are returning to in-person learning. I expect that number to drop even more next week as we begin the second semester.
That is it for this week. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and please be safe!!!
Dr. Brian Jaeger, Superintendent