JAMESTOWN, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The Jamestown Public School Board met Monday night and discussed the instructional plan before planned community input sessions.
The meeting was moved to the Jamestown High School for the planned community input sessions following the meeting.
In Superintendent Dr. Rob Lech’s report, their instructional team met earlier this month to review data and trends to make an instructional plan decision.
“The team fully recognizes that there will never be consensus amongst all stakeholders related to the selection of instructional plans,” Dr. Lech’s report stated. “It is important to note, however, that the team had a great debate around both staying in Instructional Plan 2 (K-5 full face-to-face and hybrid in 6-12) and moving to Instructional Plan 1 (K-12 full face-to-face) ultimately created a staggered approach.”
While Instructional Plan 2 was a starting point, Dr. Lech says it was not the destination. He added that with the possibility of exemptions for some instances of quarantine, there is a lesser likelihood of larger groups of staff and students going into quarantine.
“It is important to note, however, that this does not eliminate close contacts, it simply allows for an exemption to quarantine in schools for students and staff if close contact investigation, the administrator would need to determine close contacts, which includes those that are exempt.”
Dr. Lech says they’ll continue to meet every other week and review data to continue making instructional plans. The next scheduled review of the instruction plan will be this week.
In other school news, Dr. Lech says they’ll continue to explore other NDDOT Transportation Alternative Grants, or Safe Routes to Schools.
“The district has seen a significant benefit from the Safe Routes to School/TA grants with the middle school safety project, increased sidewalks around Gussner, CTC, and Jamestown High School and a few other minor improvements for traffic safety and consistency,” Dr. Lech reports.
“While the district does not have any projects that will impact school property, we are continuing to support our community in submitting the TA grants. These opportunities are important to improving our community but also to support walkability to and from school.”
The schools are also exploring bids for snow removal to “ensure the best overall cost” for the service. Dr. Lech’s recommendation was a fixed cost, 5-year agreement with Scherbenske Inc. for the snow clearing service.