With Governor Kim Reynolds recent announcement this past Friday about closing school buildings for the rest of the current school year, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, school districts are working diligently to make decisions moving forward.

Greene County School District Superintendent Tim Christensen tells Raccoon Valley Radio several district individuals are meeting this week to discuss a variety of different items. At the forefront is deciding whether or not to continue providing Voluntary Educational Enrichment Opportunities for students. The District is currently providing ways for students to continue to be engaged learners, but at a voluntary level. Christensen notes they may switch to required work for students. Until that time, Christensen encourages all students and parents to continue to take advantage of the enrichment program.

“That’s in everybody’s best interest. Because we will be coming back to school at some point in time. We talk about life-long learning and just because we’re in the situation that we’re in isn’t really a reason for anybody to say, ‘I’m going to stop learning.’ So hopefully everyone continues to take part in that.”

Other items the district is going to address include senior graduation requirements, reviewing summer school programs, developing a “Return to Learn” plan to the Department of Education, figuring out prom and graduation, among others. Christensen points out one key component that everyone should keep in mind.

“Essentially the governor is saying the buildings are closed. It’s not necessarily saying that education is closed and over. We’ve got to figure out again what that looks like and how we can continue to provide educational opportunities the best that we can.”

To hear more from Christensen about the different educational balls the district is juggling with the governor’s closure announcement, listen to today’s Community State Bank in Paton Let’s Talk Greene County program.