Perry Community School District Superintendent Clark Wicks announced Friday that one Perry Elementary School student, two Perry Elementary School staff members, three Perry Middle School students and two Perry High School staff members tested positive for COVID-19 between Sept. 18-24.
“All other students can attend classes as normal,” Wicks said.
The Perry School Board’s Return to Learn Plan currently includes full-day, face-to-face instruction with no in-school testing, no contact tracing, no quarantining and no mask recommendation. The plan conforms to guidance issued by the Iowa Department of Public Health in August.
Since a U.S. District Court Judge issued a temporary restraining order Sept. 13 to stop enforcement of Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ ban on local control of mask orders, a number of urban and suburban school districts in Iowa have held special meetings and issued mask requirements.
The Boone school board voted Thursday to require masks in schools, following the lead of pro-mask school districts in Ankeny, Ames, Des Moines, Johnston, Urbandale, West Des Moines and elsewhere. The Perry school board has not called a meeting to take up the question.
“Masks are a choice,” Wicks said in August. “It’s not an encouragement or a discouragement.”
The current population of students and staff in the Perry Community School District numbers about 1,800. Some 60 students and 20 staff members tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus during the 2020-2021 school year in Perry.
The SARS-CoV-2 virus has infected 23 students and staff members since classes began Aug. 23, according to communications from the PCSD. A total of 81 Perry students and staff tested positive for the virus during the last school year. The list of this year’s cases follows:
8/23-30 PES 1
8/31-9/3 PES 2, PHS 1
9/4-10 PES 1, PMS 2, PHS 3
9/11-9/17 PMS 3, PHS 2
9/18-9/24 PES 1, PMS 3, PES staff 2, PHS staff 2
