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Online petition for masks in the Atlantic CSD; Superintendent updates mitigation measures

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October 17th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

(Updated 5:15-a.m., 10/18) –

An online petition is available for persons who wish to support a mask/face shield mandate for the Atlantic School District, and eliminate the need to quarantine. The petition, created by CCHS Nurse Laura Robinson, can be found at Change.org. It’s directed toward the Atlantic School Board, which, to-date has not mandated a mask/face shield policy, and looks to obtain 500 signatures (as of early Sunday morning, there were 499). The petition will be presented to the Atlantic School Board during their next regular meeting.

This past week, a student in the 4th Grade tested positive for COVID-19, resulting in some students being forced to quarantine until Oct. 27th. Superintendent Steve Barber said he’s aware of the petition and the latest test results.

On Wednesday, Mr. Barber reported the number of students wearing masks has declined around 30-percent, while many of the staff are still seen wearing them. The standard for the Pre-Kindergarten through 5th Grade building, is to encourage students to wear masks when social distancing cannot occur. Anyone in grades 6-thru-12 are expected to wear masks, when social distancing was not possible.

Superintendent Barber, Friday, issued an update on the way the Coronavirus is impacting the district. Barber says “We continue to assess our system by looking at data and making adjustments to our response to COVID.”He said “As we have talked before, we have a communication plan in place that we use when we are notified of a positive COVID case for one of our students or staff.”

According to Mr. Barber, “Individuals staff and parents of students who are determined to have been in close contact are communicated with directly by the school and/or Cass County Public Health. Any other individual that potentially could have become infected by the positive case gets notification.” He concluded by saying “We continue to follow the guidelines of Iowa Department of Public Health and those set up by the Governor in how we isolate and quarantine those affected.”