The Atlantic School Board, Wednesday, discussed the District’s COVID-19 response and plan for continuous learning, as well as graduation. Superintendent Steve Barber recapped the orders given by Governor Reynolds when she cancelled the school year in her press conference last Friday. That includes a “Return to Learn” plan submitted to the State Dept. of Education by no later than July 1st. The template for doing so should be available from the State in a couple of weeks.

He said one of the biggest hurdles faced by the Atlantic School District, is grading while school is closed. The guideline the district is following says “All work completed prior to the closure March 13th, 2020, can be graded. Assignments that were not completed prior to the closure cannot be accepted and graded until school reopens. Therefore,” he said, “if we get a chance to open August 23rd you can open it up and go all the way back to the third quarter to do some grading kinds of things.”

Since the Atlantic District is in a Voluntary Continuous Learning program, it is considered closed, and can’t take assignments that prior to closure and use that as part of the grading system. Barber said they looked at high school is being the big hurdle because there is more at stake requirements-wise. High School Administrators and Building Leadership Team agreed that, because students didn’t have an opportunity perform at the high level during the fourth quarter due to circumstances beyond their control, the district should provide them with the grades that will provide them with the best chance at their level of GPA. If they had chances to improve but they met a minimum requirement, the district could use a hybrid situation of passing them, therefore getting credit for completing the course but not have that go against their GPA.

The other three buildings in the district would grade the work completed and provide parents feedback at the end of the school year. As far as graduation is concerned, Superintendent Barber said they’re looking at multiple options, including: A traditional ceremony; Explore an alternative date for the celebration; A virtual ceremony, including a “Drive-in” Ceremony, such as the Red Oak School District is planning; the other choice is a a combination of those options.

In other business, the Atlantic School Board approved the resignation of Jordan Newberg as 2nd Grade Teacher, Girls Soccer and MS Wrestling Coach. Newberg has accepted a position as K-8 Assistant Principal for the Shenandoah School District. They also approved the disposal (by scrapping) two old, diesel school buses. Two new buses were replaced thanks to a grant from VW. And, the Board approved two change orders for moving 1,000 cubic yards of dirt into the Trojan Bowl for tile work needed to eliminate an underground drainage problem at one end of the Bowl. The total price tag amounts to nearly $17,000.