Mask mandate up for review by USD 383 board Wednesday
Feb. 15—To mask, or not to mask — that'll be the question the Manhattan-Ogden school board answers when it meets Wednesday.
The board meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. in the Robinson Education Center. Board members will reconsider the mask requirement after deciding during their Feb. 2 meeting that the districtwide mandate would remain in place through at least Wednesday.
District officials have indicated that local COVID-19 data will be used to determine whether to end the mask mandate, along with recommendations from the district's medical advisory committee made up of local health experts and physicians. For the week of Jan. 30 through Feb. 5, the district recorded 138 students and six staff members in quarantine. Those figures are a decrease from the prior week, when 247 students and 15 staffers were quarantining.
For that same week, 101 students tested positive for the coronavirus, while 23 staff members tested positive. Those numbers decreased from 173 students and 35 staffers testing positive the prior week of Jan. 23-29. The attendance rate for students has increased, from 87% for Jan. 23-29 to nearly 92% for the current week.
Other COVID-19 mitigation efforts remain in place across the district. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends wearing masks in public settings or close quarters to mitigate the spread of the virus, whether a person is vaccinated or not.
The board reinstated the mask requirement during a special meeting Jan. 3 in anticipation of a spike in coronavirus cases following winter break. The district canceled classes Jan. 14 because administrators determined they couldn't field an adequate number of staff members amid a wave of COVID-19 cases in the Manhattan area.
The district continues to face a shortage of available staff in areas like child nutrition, transportation and administration, as well as teaching and support staff. USD 383 assistant superintendent Eric Reid told The Mercury earlier in the month that district employees are "stretched" beyond their usual duties. Some examples include maintenance staff driving buses in the mornings and afternoons, as well as school principals and other administrators working the front desk or substitute teaching some classes.
In other business, the board will consider whether to approve sending the Manhattan High School robotics team to a regional robotics competition in Sedalia, Mo. The robotics team is asking permission for a group of 20 students and four instructors to attend the FIRST Robotics Western Missouri and Kansas Regional Competition. The competition is slated for March 31-April 3. Local sponsorships and donations would pay for the trip. Students also paid $50 in robotics club fees.
Board members also will consider:
— A guaranteed maximum price package with McCown Gordon Construction of Manhattan for both the central kitchen and transportation warehouse projects for $4.16 million. These remodeling projects, which haven't started yet, are a part of the district's bond issue passed by voters in 2018.
— Buying kitchen equipment from Sunflower Restaurant Supply of Topeka for $568,125.
— Buying iPads and accessories for $269,643.
— Buying a storage area network and server from CDW, Inc. of Chicago, Illinois for $66,670.
— Replacing 20 projector systems from Cytek Media Systems of Topeka for $49,780.
