By Dave Hoeger
Montezuma Schools Superintendent
March 16, 2020
Montezuma School Community,
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds recommended that all schools close from March 16 through April 10, with school to resume on Monday, April 13.
Montezuma Schools will follow this recommendation. We will have no evening school meetings or extra-curricular activities taking place at Montezuma until April 13.
We have many questions and are awaiting guidance from the Governor’s office and the Iowa Department of Education.
We will continue to send out information to our parents, students, staff, and community as it becomes available.
The building secretaries will be in the office most days and checking emails but they will not be here each day from 8:00-4:00.
If you need something, please call ahead or send an email to make sure your needs can be met.
At this time, we do not want students to come to the school for any reason.
Our custodial staff is doing a great job of thoroughly cleaning the entire school.
At some point, we will make arrangements for students to come to school if they need to pick up any items that they may need at home.
The Iowa Department of Education sent information this morning regarding an application that will allow schools to provide meals to students during the time schools are closed.
We completed that application and are waiting for a response. Our goal is to provide lunches and possibly breakfast to as many students as the law allows.
The program rules indicate the meals would have to be picked up from school and taken home because students would not be allowed to eat at school.
We are ready to start this program at Montezuma but must await approval from the Department of Education. Hopefully, we can start preparing meals within a few days.
We received information from the girls and boys athletic unions today that states “All IHSAA andIGHSAU sports are now in a prohibited period for practice, competition, and sanctioned activity until the closure is lifted.
This prohibition means no in-person contact between coaches/administrators and student-athletes for the duration of the period.”
The note also indicates “IHSMA has canceled the Class 4A and 1A solo/small ensemble festival set for April 18,and the state large group festival set for May 8-9”.
To see the complete notification you can visit the boys or girls union websites.
Guidance on future IGHSAU and IHSAA activity schedule adjustments and their effects on season lengths, as well as post-season events, will be announced through www.iahsaa.org and www.ighsau.org.
Governor Reynolds was planning a press conference at 4:30 pm on Monday. We were hoping to learn more information at that time to help us plan for the next 4 weeks.
We will send another informational letter when we have more to share.
This is a stressful time for everyone, especially younger children. It is suggested that parents limit the amount of information children are watching on TV or social media sites regarding the Coronavirus.
Please take care of yourself and your loved ones. This is a stressful time but we will help and care for each other and we will get through this together.