Principal’s Post for May 23, 2021

Enrollment Still Unsettled for 2021-22

It is still difficult to project our enrollment for the 2021-22 school year.  On the positive side, we have the potential for an enrollment increase of nearly 20 students since our October 1st official enrollment count for the 2020-21 school year.  On the other hand, the return rate of tuition contracts for the next school year has been the slowest we’ve seen for many years, and there are contracts for nearly 30% of the potential K-8 student body still outstanding.  For multiple grade levels, the discrepancy is the difference between one section of 20-24 kids or two sections of 15-20 each.  This predicament is especially pronounced in grades 2-6 and 8.  From a financial perspective, it’s a difference of around $400,000 on a $2.4 million budget.  It’s enough of a difference to delay all summer purchasing such as for new textbooks, technology, and furnishings.  It’s enough of a difference for teachers to be left wondering what grade(s) they will be teaching next school year.  Many decisions are made based upon projected enrollment, and we need your timely help.

If you have not yet returned your 21-22 tuition contract, please do so ASAP.  If you have run into some financial challenges that have delayed paying this year’s tuition, which, in turn, has delayed the issuance of a tuition contract for next year, please communicate with Fr. Jake in the parish office.  If your children will not be returning to JFK next year, please also let us know that so we can adjust accordingly.

See below for more information on how your net tuition bill can be decreased by $250 per student for next year.

Net Tuition Decreases: HF 847 Makes Changes to Education in Iowa

Governor Reynolds signed HF 847 on Thursday morning.  In addition to barring schools from requiring students, staff, and/or members of the public to wear face coverings, other highlighted elements of HF 847 are the following:

• Parents may receive a tuition credit on their taxes up to 25% on the first $2,000 spent for each K-12 dependent’s tuition and textbook fees.  This tax credit increase is the equivalent of reducing your tuition bill next year by $250 per student!
• The tax credit available to someone who donates to a school tuition organization increases from 65% to 75%.  If a person donates $100 to an STO, for example, his/her tax bill is reduced by $75.  This change makes it even more advantageous to donate to an STO.  The Mississippi Valley School Tuition Organization funds tuition assistance for Scott County Catholic Schools.
• The cap on the tax credits available for donors to STOs increases from $15 million to $20 million by January 2022.  More money donated to STOs means more money available for financial assistance to our families.
• Teachers may claim a tax deduction up to $500 when they spend their own money on qualified educational purchases.
• Schools must display both the US and Iowa state flags on an outdoor flagstaff.  (We’re still in need of a bucket lift truck so we can repair our flagstaff!)
• Charter schools are easier to establish.  Parents would be able to direct their state education dollars to go to brand new schools operated by individuals or even for-profit organizations outside of Iowa.  Parents still, however, cannot use their state education dollars to pay for education at long-established private schools in Iowa.

History of Face Covering Guidance at JFK

As I have stated many times, there seems to be no other COVID issue as significant as face coverings.  Below is a little history of how things have progressed at JFK:

• Last summer, the Iowa Department of Education advised schools not to require face coverings.  The CDC and Scott County Health Department recommended face coverings, especially when social distancing was not possible.
• JFK’s Building Leadership Team (BLT) and board discussed the issue for many hours over the summer.  We started the year with face coverings encouraged, but not required in most classroom situations as our desks were six feet apart from one another.
• As COVID numbers in Scott County began to increase in October, our BLT began to develop metrics for when a classroom or the whole school might have to wear face coverings regardless of social distancing.  (They also developed metrics for whole classroom and whole building quarantining as well.)  The metrics were shared with the board.
• In early November, with COVID numbers in Scott County still rising, and the challenges we were facing in keeping kids separated at outdoor recesses, we implemented the need for students to wear face coverings at outdoor recesses.
• In mid-November, the COVID numbers in Scott County were high enough to trigger the building-wide face covering requirement, according to our metrics.
• Within a week’s time, we realized just how cumbersome the metrics were going to be for timely decision-making, particularly as we had to rely upon once per week data from the health department.  The rubric was simplified to only focus on the positivity rate.
• As public schools were having to restore five day per week in person instruction by mid-February, our BLT discussed face coverings again.  With the COVID numbers still recovering from Christmas break, vaccinations just beginning for staff, and spring break on the horizon, the BLT decided to suspend the metrics we had been using, and we were prepared, if need be, to continue with face coverings being required for the rest of the school year.  The board, in February, deliberately deferred the decisions regarding face coverings to the BLT.
• In late April and early May, COVID numbers in Scott County were continuing to drop to levels equivalent to what they had been in the fall before we went to our face covering requirement.  The BLT began to discuss face coverings again at its weekly Monday meetings.  CDC guidance was also beginning to change, at least for vaccinated individuals.
•  On May 10th, the BLT decided that we could go back to how we had started the school year with face coverings encouraged, but not required in most classroom situations, as our desks were six feet apart from one another.  Recess challenges remained so we had planned to continue to wear face coverings at recess.  The changes were going to be announced after the May 12th health department data was received and in the May 16th Principal’s Post.
• On May 13th, the CDC issued new face covering guidance again.  I accelerated JFK’s new face covering guidance to begin on May 14th.
• On the afternoon and evening of May 14th, new guidance was issued from the Iowa Department of Public Health through the departments of education and human services, and new guidance also came from the Diocese of Davenport.  Scott County Catholic schools responded with new protocols to go into effect on May 17th that made face coverings welcomed and encouraged among students, but not required.  Staff were to follow the face covering guidance according to vaccination status.
• Early in the morning on May 20th, Governor Reynolds signed HF 847.  A section added quite suddenly to the bill bars schools from requiring students, staff, and members of the public to wear face coverings.  It was effective immediately.

Registration for JFK’s Summer Leaps & Bounds and Vacation Bible School

Registration for JFK’s summer Leaps & Bounds sessions is closed.  Responses were far more than we had expected, as typically we have had to be concerned about having enough students to be able to offer all sessions each year.  This year our concern has been in having to turn people away!

Vacation Bible School is for students entering kindergarten – 5th grade for the 2021-22 school year.  The dates are July 15 & 16 from 8:30 – 11:30 a.m. with special activities also at the 11:00 Mass on July 18.  There is no cost to VBS this year.  Questions may be directed to Kaye Meyers, Coordinator of Faith Formation for OLV Parish, 563-391-8384.

Special Dress Day on Thursday: Dress In Colors of Favorite Flower Fund-Raiser

COVID Data

Below is a link to a .pdf file that shows several graphs of Scott County and JFK data.

COVID Data, May 21, 2021

• Scott County’s positivity rate continues to decline.  The 14-day rate is lower than it’s been since September or even before then.  The 7-day rate on the state’s website today for Scott County, 3.1%, is the lowest it’s been since the beginning of March.
• The Pfizer vaccination has now been approved for those ages 12 and up.  Here is a link that can direct you to providers in the area:  Vaccinations
• We are still waiting for the actual details on contact tracing and quarantining guidelines since all of the changes within the last week.  While the abbreviated guidance we received last week stated that students who are close contacts to a positive COVID case do not need to quarantine, it is believed that this statement only applies when the close contact is not due to being a household contact.  If the close contact is due to being a household contact, a student still should quarantine.
• We sent information to the Iowa Department of Education for the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program.  P-EBT is a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) program that provides food benefits to prekindergarten (pre-K 4/5 year olds) through 12th grade children who temporarily lost access to free or reduced-price school meals due to COVID related reasons.  The May submission covers the time period of September through March.  Other submissions will cover the remainder of the school year.  Each eligible child receives $6.82 per qualified day.  The P-EBT cards are mailed directly to families from the state.
• As I prepared the data to send for the P-EBT program, I noticed that it appears that even our families have been affected by COVID disproportionately.  A higher percentage of JFK students eligible for free/reduced lunch have had school absences related to COVID than other students.  Approximately 47% of students eligible for free/reduced lunches had absences related to COVID while about 30% in a sample of other students had absences related to COVID.

HVAC Project Update

• An abandoned chimney has been removed near the gym to clear the way for the VRF condensers.
• Utility locates have been staked in the field.  A large transformer will have to be installed near Sturdevant, and then the electrical wires and cable/internet will be run underground to the school.
• We received notification that we will be receiving a grant from the Scott County Regional Authority (Bettendorf Riverboat).  On Tuesday, we will find out how much we will receive.  We applied for $150,000.

Chad