Platte County R-3’s plans of returning to full in-person learning next month has been put on hold again after district officials met with the Platte County Health Department.
Superintendent Dr. Mike Reik told board members at a meeting last week that positivity rates spiked to as high as 44 percent earlier this month. Since then rates have come down but are still in an area of great concern.
“It’s just not at the point where they’re comfortable talking about a full return and compromising the mitigation strategy,” Reik told board members at the meeting held on Thursday, Jan. 21.
Reik said the health department has admitted that using the positivity rate isn’t the best method to determine the severity of the pandemic because the county lacks a robust testing program.
The district had plans to return back to school for full in-person learning next week but the soonest that may happen will be March. The board will have a special meeting next Thursday, Feb. 4, to look at the most recent data to determine what’s next.
To put the situation into context positivity rates were around 18 percent in October when the board was considering a return to full in-person learning after the Thanksgiving break. Rates are currently in the 20 percentile range.
“The rates are considerably higher than when we were considering that forward trend,” Reik said.
Returning to full in-person learning cannot happen with the flip of a switch if the health department says it is safe enough to do so. Reik told board members the district would need at least three weeks for a proper turnaround.
“There’s lots of physical movement that has to happen as far as desks and tables relocating and things like that,” Reik said.
Some board members are beginning to feel the calendar days being torn away and wondered whether or not students could return to full-time this year.
“Realistically it’s going to be halfway through the term,” one board member said. “What’s the point, especially for seniors? If we wait for everything to be in perfect alignment and then wait for everything to be organized, it’s just going to be too late.”
Reik said part of his optimism to return to full in-person learning was the news of a vaccine rollout. However, the rollout has been less than stellar. Educators are listed in the second tier of vaccinations but that doesn’t mean much right now.
“The unfortunate part is it’s not the best rollout in terms of communication,” Reik said. “There’s a lot of unknowns and more questions than answers.”
Reik said district officials are also thinking through all the different scenarios that could occur with return to full in-person learning. He said some student athletes could opt for remote learning just to avoid quarantine situations.
“We have to speculate and consider all scenarios because we don’t want to get caught in a situation where we can’t adjust in a timely manner and we’re not pulling off the return to full in-person learning very well,” Reik said.
Reik said he’s also well aware of all the different opinions about returning to full in-person learning. Reik said his decisions have been based on what health professionals think, and now the feelings of the community at large.
“I’ve never heavily weighed the feelings of our community only because I have to listen to the healthcare experts,” Reik said. “Those are the people I need to listen to right now.”