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RTL Update – Delivery Model Transition Requests
September 14, 2020

RTL Update – Delivery Model Transition Requests

Here is the latest information around Return to Learn for the 2020-2021 school year.  School Board Meeting (September 14, 2020) The school board will hold a regularly scheduled meeting tonight at 6:30 p.m. The meeting can be found at the Zoom URL below or streamed on our YouTube Channel.  https://ames-k12-ia-us.zoom.us/j/86849490767

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RTL Update – Required Continuous Learning
September 1, 2020

RTL Update – Required Continuous Learning

School Board Approves the Recommendation to Start the School Year in Required Continuous Learning Last evening, the school board voted unanimously to begin the 2020-21 school year in a 100% off-site Required Continuous Learning delivery model due to the rapidly increasing COVID-19 positivity rates in our community. This decision was based on the COVID-19 positivity rates in our community. On Monday, the 14-day positivity rate was 21.1%, which exceeds not only our local metrics but those outlined by the Department of Education.

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Revised 2020-2021 School Year Calendar Approved (August 28, 2020)
August 29, 2020

Revised 2020-2021 School Year Calendar Approved (August 28, 2020)

As a result of the ongoing pandemic due to the coronavirus, and in order to return to school safely, we have made slight changes to next year’s calendar.  The easiest way to understand these changes is to know that outside of the federal holidays indicated below, every other day in our calendar will be a student contact day, giving teachers and students increased opportunities for instruction. A special thank you to the Ames Teacher’s Union for working collaboratively on these changes. 

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RTL Update – Cohort Group Emails Sent / Tech Device Distribution
August 28, 2020

RTL Update – Cohort Group Emails Sent / Tech Device Distribution

School Board Meeting (August 28, 2020) The school board will hold a special board meeting tonight at 5:30 p.m. The meeting can be found at the Zoom URL below or streamed on our YouTube Channel. https://ames-k12-ia-us.zoom.us/j/83762585724 Cohort Groups / Student’s Teacher Today, emails were sent out indicating student cohort groups and teachers. Student schedules were also available for Ames High and Ames Middle School. Please check your Infinite Campus Parent Portal.

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RTL Update – Cohort Groups / Device Pickup
August 26, 2020

RTL Update – Cohort Groups / Device Pickup

When will I know what day of the week my kid goes to school? As the online request form closed last week Friday, we are working to roster students within our student information system, Infinite Campus. We are finalizing that process this week and will communicate which cohort group your student will attend to start the school year along with their teacher (elementary) on Friday, August 28. Ames Middle School and Ames High School will release student schedules on Friday as well. 

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RTL Update – School Board Statement on the Importance of Local Control
August 25, 2020

RTL Update – School Board Statement on the Importance of Local Control

Here is the latest information around Return to Learn for the 2020-2021 school year.  Department of Education Permission for Phased-In Hybrid Denied The Ames Community School District requested permission from the Department of Education (DE) to begin the school year in a “phased-in” hybrid delivery model and it has been denied. We are continuing to work with the DE to understand what options are available to us and how instructional hours completed during the “phased-in” time period will contribute to the overall total. 

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School Board Statement on DE Denial and the Importance of Local Control
August 25, 2020

School Board Statement on DE Denial and the Importance of Local Control

The Ames school board issued a statement in response to the Department of Education denying permission for the “phased-in” hybrid delivery model and outlined next steps and the importance of local control. You can read the statement below:   

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RTL Update – Process for Positive Cases
August 19, 2020

RTL Update – Process for Positive Cases

Process for Positive COVID-19 Student/Staff Ames Community School District has put in multiple strategies to substantially reduce the risk of spread of COVID-19 within our buildings. Even with those mitigation strategies, due to the nature of community spread of COVID-19, a student or staff member may contract the virus. We have posted on our website the process for responding to a student/staff member testing positive for COVID-19. Even with this document, we know that there are many more questions and we are working on an FAQ related to this to address many of them. A few examples of those questions include: Do all family members need to quarantine if their student is identified as a close contact at school? Will teachers be required to work if they test positive for Covid-19 but are asymptomatic (do not have any Covid-19 symptoms?

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RTL Update – Decision-Making Metrics / Food Service for Virtual Students
August 18, 2020

RTL Update – Decision-Making Metrics / Food Service for Virtual Students

Decision-Making Metrics: The decision-making metrics to determine the appropriate delivery model was presented to the school board last night. The development of these metrics was done in collaboration with Mary Greeley Medical Center, Story County Public Health, and Story County Emergency Management. The metrics look at community positivity rates and building absence rate and will be utilized after the phased-in hybrid start of school in the month of September. The entire document can be found on our website.  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oS92cPlp45DS2RNdIw-79UpwDfZjvP-N8zyjM6WcWSM/edit

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RLT Update – Delivery Model Transition / Face Covering Guidelines
August 17, 2020

RLT Update – Delivery Model Transition / Face Covering Guidelines

Here is the latest information around Return to Learn for the 2020-2021 school year.  School Board Meeting (August 17, 2020): The school board will hold their regularly scheduled meeting tonight at 6:30. The meeting can be found at the Zoom URL below or streamed on our YouTube Channel. https://ames-k12-ia-us.zoom.us/j/86405748536

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