Linn-Mar transitions all schools to online or hybrid

Due to the growing number of COVID cases in our district, Linn-Mar Superintendent Shannon Bisgard made a series of recommendations to the school board at their November 9th meeting. 

The following temporary educational model changes are designed to keep Linn-Mar students learning, while keeping everyone, students and staff, as safe as possible.

1. Transition Excelsior Middle School from Hybrid learning to virtual learning starting Wednesday, November 11th through Monday, November 30th. 
2. Transition all PreK-6 grade students from on-site to hybrid learning starting Monday, November 16th through December 22nd. 
3. At this time, Linn-Mar High School and Oak Ridge Middle School will remain on their current Hybrid Learning plan. 

Click here for the A/B Hybrid Schedule for Quarter 2.

As of Monday, November 9th, the Linn County 14-day average positivity rate is 21.8% and rising. The district’s student absentee rate is around five percent and closer to 12% factoring in students in quarantine. Due to staffing shortages caused by COVID, Excelsior Middle School is transitioning to virtual learning. 

Due to a countywide rise in quarantined cases, which is also affecting our schools, all preK through 6th grade students, at our nine elementary and intermediate buildings, Bowman Woods, Echo Hill, Indian Creek, Linn Grove, Novak, Westfield, Wilkins, Boulder Peak, and Hazel Point will be transitioning from on-site learning to hybrid learning. This is in an effort to reduce the number of students and staff in our buildings at any one time.  

As you can see in the graphs, the Linn-Mar students and staff in quarantine are following the trend in Linn County. The quarantine totals in our elementary and intermediate schools continue to rise. We will continue to monitor these trends and adjust our plans accordingly.

We recognize this decision puts an additional burden on our families. Please know that we are taking this action to protect the health and safety of our students and staff. We hope to be able to return to in-person learning in the near future, but this will depend on the status of COVID-19 in our community and in our schools. We ask everyone to do their part to stop the spread of the virus so we can keep everyone safe and return all of our students to onsite learning.