September 2020

North Linn School Community,

I want to provide an update to our parents, staff, students, and community on the start of the school year.  We had many things to consider over the summer and everyone was wondering how the year was going to go for everyone.  I am pleased to say that the year is off to as good of a start as we could have hoped.  

The students have been incredible.  We require students to wear a face mask throughout the school day and they have been doing a great job.  We have had no compliance issues with this new requirement and that says a great deal about the willingness of the students and families to cooperate with the new procedures.  

The teachers have had to make many changes throughout their day and also include students who are learning virtually either for the semester or for a few weeks due to quarantine.  The staff is working through these new learning situations and will continue experimenting with the best way to have all students be successful.  

There have been a number of students quarantined due to contact with someone testing positive for the COVID-19 virus.  Most of these quarantined cases have come from contact with individuals outside of the school district.  We are going to start posting a COVID Dashboard link on our website with weekly totals of positive cases and quarantined staff and students.  Due to the Iowa Department of Health guidelines, we can report zero cases and 6 or more cases but cannot give the specific number if we have from 1-5 cases.  We will update these numbers each week on the website. For any COVID cases, we work with Linn County Health Department and follow their guidance regarding quarantine cases.  

Thanks to everyone for their continued support and cooperation as we move into the month of October.  There will undoubtedly be more people affected by the COVID virus but we can work through these situations and keep our schools open for students.  I want to thank everyone for their efforts to get the year started on a great note and wish you a safe and enjoyable fall season.

Thanks,

Dave Hoeger