Coronavirus Updates

March 17, 2020

Good afternoon WCSD families,

I want to express my sincere gratitude to our community for your outpouring of support and understanding during this difficult time. There are a lot of moving pieces and our Senior Leadership Team is working through those as quickly as possible. I want to provide an update to you as students, guardians, and parents on what is known at this point and what we are still working through.

  1. Making Up Days: The Senate and House have agreed to waive the requirement for Iowa schools to reschedule days canceled following Governor Reynolds’ recommendation. Any classes previously scheduled from March 16, 2020, to April 12, 2020, will not be required to be rescheduled. This allows flexibility for districts to assess the situation as it moves forward.
  2. Access to Buildings: We will allow students and parents, who are feeling well per CDC guidelines, who need to retrieve critical medications, to access your child/s school/s on March 23 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Please contact your principal to connect with your school nurse. This is for critical medications, not to retrieve personal items; i.e. sweatshirts, bags, water bottles, etc.
  3. Meals for Students: The Iowa Department of Education has received approval from the USDA to serve Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) meals in a non-congregate setting. We will provide more information on when that will be available and how families will access the meals.
  4. Testing: At this time we are waiting for more information regarding testing times that were scheduled.
  5. Online Learning Options: We have received several questions about online learning options. Our team and the Area Education Agency are curating online resources that parents can use to engage their students at home and we will share this information when it becomes available to us. We understand not all of our families have internet access at home. This creates an access and equity concern for our students and families, and it is part of what keeps this time from being allowed as make-up time in the coming days.
  6. Other answers to questions can be found on our website.

REMINDERS:

All district buildings are closed and should not be entered or used without authorization.

All school events are postponed and canceled until April 13. We are working through graduation, prom, and other large events as we navigate through the next phase.

EFR is prepared to continue serving our students and families. Their phone services will not be interrupted and many of the EAP counselors have access to telehealth counseling options. Do not hesitate to reach out if you would like assistance during this difficult and uncertain time. There are three, easy ways to connect with EFR:

For more information about this virus and the most recent updates related to the outbreak, please visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website: CDC Information.

I will say it again, thank you for your care, compassion, and willingness to help our community. Many examples in our district have already shown ways of connecting to students and families, with many more underway. Thank you for reminding me each day why Waukee is an amazing place to be.

We will be in touch as items unfold so please stay tuned to your email and our website for updated communication.

Sincerely,

Dr. Brad Buck, Superintendent