The Columbia School Board will hold a special session Monday afternoon to discuss the return to school Sept. 8.
The district will present an overview of where things stand, including local COVID-19 trends and readiness for hybrid teaching. The board will determine whether to vote on any changes in the fall reopening plan. Case numbers among district employees and the MU community will be part of the discussion.
The meeting will be 4:30 p.m. Monday at the Aslin Administration Building, 1818 W. Worley St.
“(The board) could vote to change our current mode,” spokesperson Michelle Baumstark said in an email. “It could vote to keep the current mode. It could decide to not vote on anything at all.”
The semester is scheduled to start Sept. 8.
As it stands, students will have in-person/hybrid or all-virtual learning plans, depending on what families chose on an enrollment survey the district sent out earlier this summer. Under the hybrid plan, students will attend in-person classes two days a week, either Mondays and Tuesdays or Thursdays and Fridays, according to previous Missourian reporting.
About 24% of students chose the fully virtual plan as of Aug. 18, when the district’s enrollment survey closed.
The district’s 14-day COVID-19 tracker recorded a record-high 61.5 cases per 10,000 people Saturday. The district has said the tipping point toward all-virtual schooling is 50 per 10,000 people or higher over a 14-day period; however, it is one of several factors that would be used in making the change.
Fall reopening is the only item on the agenda Monday. The next regularly scheduled board meeting is Sept. 14.