EDINBURG — The Edinburg Board of Education held a regular meeting on Wednesday, January 12, at 6:06 pm. in the district Media Center.
Superintendent Ben Theilen told the Board that the district was maintaining strong attendance numbers despite the recent spike in COVID cases due to the Omicron variant that has caused school closures in other parts of the state.
As of the night of the meeting, the Edinburg school district only had 4 positive cases of COVID, and six students isolating. Having only 10 students out for COVID-related reasons was a good sign that the protocols and policies the Board enacted are working.
“It’s possible we have already hit our peak and just didn’t know it,” Theilen remarked, adding that he was going to be realistic and not get his hopes up. They plan to keep enforcing their rules on social distancing and masking, and keep up with their testing. The efforts to keep students in the classrooms have shown big results.
Principal Ashley Fancis told the Board that the elementary had recently held their MAP testing. Much to the excitement of the teachers, the scores for the students have actually gone up. Francis says this shows the interventionist’s strategies and the dedication and efforts of the teachers have begun to combat the learning loss from the last year. Kids are getting the services they need and making progress.
Francis also announced the district had seen eleven new students come in, always a positive sign for a small community school.
Theilen asked the Board to consider moving the April meeting to the 6th, since the regularly scheduled meeting was set during Spring Break. It was Theilen’s hope that people would actually be able to travel this year, so he wished to move the meeting to accommodate them.
The Board went over the updated Board policies at the end of the meeting.
Also approved at the meeting:
– Minutes
– Payment of bills
– December Activity account in the amount of $74,599.02
– Personnel report
The next regular meeting of the Edinburg Board of Education will be held on Wednesday, February 9, 2022, at 6:00 p.m. in the district Media Center.
