The winter break brought a respite from COVID-19 for Iola elementary schools.
Principals at Lincoln and Jefferson reported they had few, if any, cases after students returned to class last week.
Lincoln Principal Andy Gottlob said two staff members were out because of COVID on Monday, but no students. Three students were being tested.
Just before students and staff went on break in mid-December, Lincoln students were required to wear masks because more than 4% of those in the building had tested positive.
Jefferson Principal Tiffany Koehn said the school would not have any students to test today.
A report on Friday showed three students or staff were positive at McKinley Elementary School, eight at the middle school and none at the high school.
A total of 25 students or staff districtwide were in quarantine and 24 were being tested to stay in school. That’s down from just before students and staff went on break, when 36 were in quarantine and 33 were being tested.
Superintendent Stacey Fager said he hoped the recent surge of cases, likely fueled by the omicron variant, would go down as quickly as it rose.
“We’re kind of seeing something fairly similar to what happened last year. We were worst, casewise, between Thanksgiving and Christmas. When we came back after New Year’s, cases declined.”
IN OTHER news, the school board:
• Welcomed new board members John Wilson, Mandey Coltrane and Robin Griffin-Lohman. They were elected in November, after previous board members Nancy Toland, Jared Larkey and Jennifer Coltrane chose not to run for re-election.
January is School Board Appreciation Month, Superintendent Fager said. To thank the board members for their service, the district provided a gift bag filled with items including an Iola High School stadium seat, decorative license plate and more.
The new board members will attend a state-sponsored training on Saturday.
• Tabled a proposal to add lighting at the tennis court, as bids were being revised at the district’s request.
• Heard the district had applied for a grant that would provide half the cost of a poured-in-place rubberized foundation for the elementary school playgrounds.
