PCSD rolls out online R2L option, virus mitigation strategies for fall

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PCSD Superintendent Clark Wicks holds an ionization fogger, used to sanitize surfaces in schoolrooms, at the Friday evening public meeting on the Perry Return to Learn Plan.

The Perry Community School District (PCSD) is aiming for 100% onsite, in-person instruction in the fall, but the school board approved Wednesday an online option for families and students with unique medical needs or who are otherwise uncomfortable attending traditional onsite learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Public meetings will be held on three evenings next week in the Perry Performing Arts Center (PAC) for all parents of students in the PCSD. At the meetings, parents will decide whether to enroll their children as onsite or online learners for the fall, and attendance is strongly encouraged. The meetings will be held:

  • Monday, July 27 for parents of Perry High School students, 7 p.m. in the PAC
  • Tuesday, July 28 for parents of Perry Middle School students, 7 p.m. in the PAC
  • Wednesday, July 29 for parents of Perry Elementary School students, 7 p.m. in the PAC

The online Return to Learn (R2L) option was presented to the school board at a special noontime meeting by Superintendent Clark Wicks. The numerous questions posed by the board members and answered by the administrators showed how much forethought and planning went into both the onsite and online R2L plans and what a monumental logistical challenge the PCSD administrators have risen to in spite of tremendous deadline pressure and unprecedented public-health anxieties.

Knowing that all plans are provisional and subject to change due to new DOE directives or new conditions in the pandemic, the school board unanimously approved the online plan at the end of the hour-long meeting, which was chaired by Perry School Board Vice President Linda Andorf and attended by Directors Casey Baldwin and Jim Lutmer. Board President Kyle Baxter and Director Kenia Alarcon were absent.

“This is our fluid online proposal to the board,” Wicks said. “It will take everybody, one team, that has the attitude that we could make this work, both on the online piece as well as the onsite, and it will evolve. I know that there’s a high stress level, but you know what? We can do this. We will get through this. We will get through it, but it will takes us time. We are going to be working together. This isn’t a time to look at how everything won’t work. We could shoot holes through everything, but now I’m asking everybody, including the media, including the board, including our administrators and including every staff member — hey, this is all Perry schools. This is Perry community. This isn’t the time to throw bullets and shots at everything that is going on. This is the time to rally. Rally to make a difference, a positive difference.”

Wednesday’s roll out of the online option followed Wicks’ July 13 presentation to the board of the district’s onsite R2L Plan, which aims to resume fall classes as nearly normally as possible, with school five days a week in regular-sized classes.

“It will not be business as usual,” Wicks told the attendees at one of Friday’s community meetings at the PAC, where he outlined the district’s equally extensive efforts to minimize the risk of COVID-19 infection among students, teachers and staff when they return for onsite and in-person instruction Aug. 19.

The Perry R2L Plan’s goal of 100% onsite instruction meets the Iowa Department of Education (DOE) requirement that at least 50% of all fall instruction must occur onsite, a standard proclaimed Friday by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds at a press conference in Van Meter and embodied in Iowa Senate File 2310. The DOE has also issued guidance on Senate File 2310.

So while regular classes this coming fall might look much as they did last fall, “It will not be business as usual,” Wicks repeatedly stressed to parents and teachers at the community meeting.

“You’re not going to make everybody happy,” he said of the district’s R2L plans. “Our goal is that we keep an eye on the target and that is: How can we provide the best education possible on-site and then potentially online?”

Strategic mitigation of the novel coronavirus is the primary goal of the onsite R2L plan, and the centerpiece of the district’s mitigation efforts is an air purification and filtration system called needlepoint bi-polar ionization, manufactured by Global Plasma Solutions Inc. of Charlotte, North Carolina.

According to the manufacturer, “Needlepoint bipolar ionization works to safely clean indoor air, leveraging an electronic charge to create a high concentration of positive and negative ions. These ions travel through the air continuously seeking out and attaching to particles. This sets in motion a continuous pattern of particle combination. As these particles become larger, they are eliminated from the air more rapidly. Additionally, positive and negative ions have microbicidal effects on pathogens, ultimately reducing the infectivity of the virus. Global Plasma Solutions’ needlepoint bipolar ionization is ozone-free and the only kind in its category to pass the RCTA DO-160 standard for aircraft. Traditional bipolar ionization systems produce harmful ozone as a byproduct.”

Wicks said the school district spent $135,000 to install the needlepoint devices on the HVAC systems at all three Perry schoolhouses.

“We feel that if the air is pure, we have a fighting chance to help reduce the probability for any kind of COVID-19,” Wicks said. “At this time, we’re probably the only school in the state” that is using the needlepoint air purification system.

The district will also deploy ionization foggers, which are cordless electrostatic disinfectant handheld sprayers made by Victory Innovations Co. According to the Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based manufacturer, the fogger’s “patented technology provides an electrical charge to solutions, allowing them to wrap conductive surfaces with an effective and even coverage. Double-charged particles envelope all conductive surfaces — shadowed, vertical and underneath.” One fogger can coat up to 2,800 square feet on a single tank of fluid.

“My understanding,” Wicks said, “is you can come into a room and in a fairly short amount of time use that ionization fogger, and it will adhere to the different surfaces and kill viruses, bacteria and that kind of thing.”

In addition, the school district has purchased some 8,000 face masks and a number of face shields, Wicks said. Millennium sanitizing cleaner will be used to wipe down all surfaces during the day, and hand sanitizer will be available in every room.

Christian Loaiza, a 2015 graduate of PHS who now teaches instrumental music at Marshalltown High School, attended Friday’s community meeting and said the PCSD plan compared unfavorably to the Marshalltown Community School District Return to Learn Plan.

“After reading the very short, seven-page Return to Learn manual, I was disheartened by the lack of procedures that are in place. Not requiring a mask is a huge one for me,” Loaiza said. He said the Marshalltown district “has done an immense amount of meeting and investing in making sure all of our kids are safe. We’re providing every single kid with a mask, a face shield and a plexiglass protector.”

Wicks said PCSD students will be required to wear face masks when riding the bus, and masks will be “highly recommended” in hallways at the start and end of each day and at lunchtimes.

“We are going to require a mask to be worn by everybody on a bus,” he said. “I know the Department of Education has said we cannot require everyone to wear masks at all times, but my point is the density is very thick right there, and the duration that people are on a bus is fairly long, so we will be requiring masks for the buses.”

Children have a very low rate of infection with the coronavirus, but adults have a high rate, Wicks said. For this reason, teachers and staff members will be able to take special precautions.

“We need to be very considerate of our teachers,” he said, “especially those who are more maybe susceptible to the virus. Well, with that, if a teacher says, ‘Hey, kids, here’s the situation. I need you to wear masks. I have a certain condition so, please, help. Let’s make sure we respect each other.’ Teachers can be able to require or highly encourage those kids to cooperate at that time. We’re going to have to work through that one.”

Wicks repeated his hope that everyone would rally round the Perry schools in order to make a positive difference.

“We want you to leave here saying, My confidence has increased. My fear has decreased,” he said.

Three public meetings will be held next week in the Perry Performing Arts Center (PAC) for all parents to decide whether to enroll their children in onsite or online classes for the fall. The meetings will be held:

  • Monday, July 27 for parents of Perry High School students, 7 p.m. in the PAC
  • Tuesday, July 28 for parents of Perry Middle School students, 7 p.m. in the PAC
  • Wednesday, July 29 for parents of Perry Elementary School students, 7 p.m. in the PAC

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