Stratford reports virus stats
District has had four staff/ students ill with COVID-19
Scott Winch, Stratford schools superintendent, told the school board at last Wednesday’s meeting the school district now has a COVID-19 dashboard on its website.
Stratford School District’s COVID-19 dashboard stated on Tuesday there are currently two middle/high school students who tested positive for COVID-19 and they are quarantined at home.
Winch compared the number of Stratford School District students who were at home sick all of last school year to the first few months of this school year. He told the school board 72 elementary school students were home sick from school during the 2019-20 school year, while 158 elementary school students have already been home sick because of various illnesses since this school year began on Sept. 1.
“Thirty-two elementary school students were under quarantine in September, but we’ve had 12 so far in October,” he said. “Twenty-one middle/ high school students were under quarantine in September and we’ve had 17 thus far in October.” He said 20 Stratford School District staff members have been home sick during this school year.
In other school news:
_ The Stratford School Board voted to have the school district switch from using the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) daily COVID-19 healthscreening checklist for students to the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) model.
_ Janeen LaBorde, Stratford middle/ high school principal, said students currently studying virtually from home during the first semester who aren’t reaching learning benchmarks will be asked to return to inperson school when the second quarter begins, unless they have a doctor’s excuse that keeps them at home.
Winch said there are 11 students in the Stratford School District studying virtually from home in the first semester, and seven of them are returning to in-person school during the second semester.
_ Stratford Elementary School students are now allowed to use the library, instead of the librarian bringing a cart of books to each classroom. A divider has been placed in the library to separate the elementary school students from the middle/high school students.
_ The school board voted to change the middle/high school student handbook language for this school year only, because of block scheduling, to allow students to get approval from LaBorde to drop a class during the first five days of class in a quarter, instead of the normal first 10 days.
_ The school board voted to increase the school district’s long-term substitute teacher pay by $50 from $150 per day to $200. The school district’s daily substitute teacher pay is still $110.
Amy Schmitt, Stratford Elementary School principal, said she has the following long-term substitute teachers in her building this school year to fill in while full-time teachers are on maternity leave: Sara Leverenz for Dani Meidl, Jocelyn Cavadini for Jodi Wenzel and Peggy Weigel for Brooke Kafka.
_ The school district is hiring the same 2020-21 winter coaches back this season, with the exceptions of Adam Davison as varsity head wrestling coach, Greg Heiden as a paid varsity wrestling assistant coach and Tianna (Hughes) Voda as a varsity assistant girl’s basketball coach. The school district is still seeking an extra middle school boy’s basketball coach and a junior high school wrestling head coach.
_ The school board will hold its October property tax levy meeting at 5 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 26.
