BETTENDORF, Iowa — On Monday, August 23, thousands of students in Iowa will go back to school for the new school year.
The Pleasant Valley School District, with schools in Bettendorf and LeClaire, is preparing to welcome students back to the classroom.
Masks are not required for the district. That's because of a ban on local mask mandates signed into law by Governor Kim Reynolds in May 2021.
Staff in the district are instead strongly recommending masks for everyone in school buildings.
"I think our intent has to be encouraging families who are willing to mask, for whatever reason, and that could be personal health, someone in their family's health, it could be mentally they feel more comfortable, or they've been around someone positive," said Pleasant Valley Superintendent Brian Strusz. "If you're willing to mask, please mask."
To get ready for the school year, over the summer, district staff deep cleaned each building, Strusz said. The district will also make hand sanitizer available in all buildings for students and staff, and also promote hand-washing throughout the day.
Strusz said the school district has grown, too, and some of the class sizes in certain buildings are reaching the district's limits. That will provide a challenge for social distancing, Strusz said.
"We will attempt to social distance in areas where we can because we're 100 percent back, you know, so all those things are in place," said Strusz. "The issue for us right now is what's going to happen with potential spread with masking and non masking, and what does that look like. That's the answer I don't have today."
At an all-staff meeting on Wednesday, about half of the district's staff were wearing masks, Strusz said.
Strusz said district staff and administrators are doing everything they can under Iowa law to keep students and staff safe as they return to school this fall.
If a COVID-19 outbreak would happen in a school, Strusz said the district would work with the state Department of Education to determine options that fit within state education requirements.
Strusz said he talked with a representative at the Department of Education about a virtual class option if there were an outbreak. Strusz said he was told online classes would not count towards a school's required number of in-school hours for the year. That means the school's staff and students would need to make up those online days in-person at the end of the school year, Strusz said.