RTL Update – Court Decision on Temporary Stay
Here is the latest information around Return to Learn for the 2020-2021 school year.
Court Decision on Temporary Stay for Extracurriculars
Today, a judge in Story County denied the Ames Community School District’s motion for a temporary stay of enforcement that relates directly to students’ non-participation in extracurricular activities. As a District, we are currently in a two-week window of 100% online continuous learning due to COVID-19 metrics in Story County and per Department of Education guidance, we are not permitted to engage students in extracurricular activities. Our goal in asking for the temporary stay was to allow students to participate in extracurricular activities while in the online model. As the motion was denied, extracurricular activities will continue to be suspended through next week. The school board will hold a meeting on Thursday, September 17 to determine the next delivery model.
Superintendent Risner Response
“We are disappointed that the Iowa Department of Education will not allow Ames students to participate in extracurricular activities. We had hoped that the district court could give us some temporary relief from the department’s order, but that was not to be, at least for today. We will keep up our fight to do what we think is best for our students and staff.”
School Board Meeting Next Week
The school board will hold two board meetings next week. The first on Monday, September 14 will be the regularly scheduled meeting with the second one Thursday, September 17 being a special board meeting to determine the delivery model to begin on Monday, September 21. Both board meetings can be found at the Zoom URL links below or streamed on our YouTube Channel.
Monday, September 14 (6:30 p.m.) – https://ames-k12-ia-us.zoom.us/j/86849490767
Thursday, September 17 (5:30 p.m.) – https://ames-k12-ia-us.zoom.us/j/86473228888
COVID-19 Dashboard
In an effort to share how COVID-19 is impacting our District, we have posted a COVID-19 dashboard on our website. This dashboard will show as much information as possible, while also protecting the privacy of those affected. This dashboard will be updated weekly on Wednesdays and Fridays and is available at the URL below.