West Lyon’s Return to Learn Plan
The Iowa Department of Education released information in late June for schools to begin reopening plans for this August. This guidance allows school districts to make local decisions on most aspects of reopening our building this fall. We continue to work through the details of our plans, as there are many uncertainties at this time and many questions yet before the start of school, which is set for August 24th. With over 950 students and nearly 120 staff members in one building on a daily basis, we are presented with various challenges.
Below are a few important notes to share:
★ Monday, August 17 staff new to our building will be working with their building principals and preparing for their 1st year at West Lyon.
★ Tuesday, August 18 is our district “Wildcat Kickoff” with all staff in attendance!
○ Efforts will be made to limit large gatherings as building administrative staff are preparing for the start of school a little differently this year.
★ Wednesday, August 19-21 all teaching staff will have professional development activities.
★ Monday, August 24 is our 1st day of classes, with a scheduled early dismissal at 1:30 pm.
★ Friday, August 28th is a regularly scheduled early dismissal at 11:40 am for professional development activities.
★ We are considering alternative options to transport students to school, and will most likely have identified drop off and pick up areas marked on the east side of the building.
○ We are encouraging parents to bring their children to school so we can limit the number of students riding the buses.
★ We will still operate the same number of bus routes on a daily basis, but some routes will be shortened while others may be expanded.
★ Students will be expected to wear a mask (except for certain situations) while riding on school buses to protect each other as well as our bus drivers.
★ At this time, we are not requiring students to wear masks, but there may be times during the day that we expect students to wear masks.
★ We will encourage staff to wear masks or shields when around others.
★ Breakfast and lunch times may be adjusted to allow for more time between shifts so we can properly sanitize “high touch” areas and some lunches may be sacked lunches which will allow students and staff to eat in classrooms. Students should not share lunch items.
★ Scheduled passing times may be adjusted to allow students and staff to safely travel between classes or sections.
★ To limit potential exposure, visitors will not be allowed into the building in most cases unless special arrangements have been made.
There will be more details available as we get closer to August, and we’ll do our best to give parents and students a good idea of what to expect as we make plans for the start of the year. The state has given districts the opportunity to explore and implement 3 learning models this year. Those three are: 1) On-site or face to face learning, 2) Virtual or online learning (similar to how we ended the year) however if used will be mandatory or required for grading and progress. 3) Hybrid (which is a combination of face to face and online learning)
With any of these three models, the state has given authorization to districts to utilize any of the plans when they determine it is imperative to implement. We have worked with our building leadership team, various staff members, and families to develop a plan that we feel best fits the needs of the West Lyon Community School District, and we will continue to update our families as we proceed to starting school on August 24th!
As I close, please remember these plans could change quickly, and we will do our best to communicate our intentions and plans to district families in a timely manner. We will continue to follow the guidelines of the Iowa Department of Education, the Iowa Department of Public Health, and the Lyon County Health Services. Please contact me if you have any questions at skreman@wlwildcats.org or by calling the central office at 712-753-4917.
