Dexter School Board approves insurance; discusses COVID-19 situation

Thursday, March 26, 2020

The Dexter School Board approved the insurance plans for employees and Superintendent C.A. Counts addressed the school outlook amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The board elected to increase the district's insurance contribution to $500 an employee to help staff with the current state of the economy. The policies saw a total increase of 17 percent.

Employees will have a choice of four plans. Counts said most are on the HSA 6550 plan, which runs $550 per employee per month. With the school picking up $500, this means the employee would be out $50 a month.

Both Counts and board president Jim Reiker stated they did not want the staff to take a step backward and the district picking up part of the increase will allow the staff a breakeven.

Counts spoke to the board regarding the current status of the class cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He stated that some school districts in the St. Louis, Kansas City, Columbia and Springfield areas had already extended class cancellations until later in April.

Counts stated he will be part of a meeting with other schools and DESE that will take place on either Wednesday, April 1 or Thursday, April 2 to determine what will be done in regards to returning to class.

“I do anticipate (class cancellation) being extended, probably to April 22,” said Counts. “And then reevaluated at that time.”

Counts stated that when the district is at that point there are only three weeks left in the school year. He went on to say he didn't know what the consensus would be. Would it do more harm than good trying to reintegrate the students to class? The students will not have to make up the time missed due to the current situation.

“This is a very very unique situation,” said Counts. “There is no picking up the phone and asking someone 'Hey how did you handle this?' ”

Counts went on to say he didn't know once things leveled off if things will be slowly integrated back or if they will just be opened up.

Counts said the board would be kept informed as to the information being received. Counts said if they did not go back this school year, the district would still receive full funding for students with pefect attendance at the time of the closure. If they would happen to go back on April 6 it will just be considered a long break.

All state assessment tests have also been waived. He said there are questions about graduates and credits. Counts said these were hurdles they would have to cross but the schools are banding together to share ideas.

The only question Counts had concerned summer school. Summer school is scheduled for June and the revenue goes into the following school year. If they cannot return to school by the end of June, he is unsure what summer school will look like.

Counts also said because the school is losing no revenue due to the missed days not having to be made up, all staff will continued to get paid.

He also said in the event that students cannot return to school, the staff will have to be understanding in the next school year. For example students entering Algebra II will not have had a full course of Algebra I.

Counts said if the closure is extended, discussions may start with DESE regarding the offer of some on-line education. Counts said if they had offered this on the original closure, they would have had to provide full IEPs (Individualized Education Programs). Counts said this would not have been possible with students requiring different therapy at home. Counts said as they move forward they will have to see what their options are moving forward. The next board meeting was set for April 21.

“Around April 21 if it does not look like we will be able to come back any,” said Counts. “There are going to be a lot of tough decisions that are going to have to be made there as far as graduations and all of those things.”

Other Business

The board approved a series of items to be replaced/repaired with the extra money available due to the district coming in under budget on the bond issue. They include trash can pipe balusters along with hail guards for the cooler/freezer condensers at T.S. Hill Middle School, additional asphalt at the track and along the bleachers at Bland Stadium and new paint and additional concrete, dirt work and handrails at Southwest Elementary.

At the high school, four window sections will be replaced on the north wall along with new windows in the gym. The work at the high school, although started, will be designated as phase two to reduce the number of change orders going through at one time.

Some of the above mentioned work was approved at the February meeting.

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