Linn R-2 school board questioned on possible student pickup and dropoff from local business

By Edward Gehlert, Staff Writer
Posted 11/4/21

Sami Frank, the owner of Schoolhouse Childcare, asked Linn R-2 board members during the open forum of the Oct. 19 meeting why the district can’t provide pickup and dropoff at her business for …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

Linn R-2 school board questioned on possible student pickup and dropoff from local business

Posted

Sami Frank, the owner of Schoolhouse Childcare, asked Linn R-2 board members during the open forum of the Oct. 19 meeting why the district can’t provide pickup and dropoff at her business for parents whose children receive before and after-school care at her facility located in the old R-2 school building, now owned by Ron Helmig of Larapin Properties. Frank said she contacted the district before she opened and has since then communicated three times with Rudroff Bus Co. 

“The first time I called I spoke to Cole Neuner and his response was that the streets of Linn are way too narrow to get the bus down them,” said Frank. “I personally find that hard to believe as the bus would be taking the same route that it previously took during the time when kids attended school.”

She added that friends and other business owners encouraged her to advocate for the daycare, and she called twice more and spoke with Joe Neuner, owner of the bus company.

“The first time I talked to Joe, he told me there was no way he could turn off Lee Street onto Hwy. 50 with all the other traffic,” said Frank. “He was very adamant about a bus not coming down Lee Street.”

During her second call, Frank said she discussed the possibility of entering Lee Street from Hwy. 89, on a gravel road behind the old school, since a bus already takes the highway on its route.

“They used it when I was in school at the old elementary,” Frank added, noting that route would take the bus back toward the school. “That idea was shot down too because he said it’s a private driveway. Ron Helmig said we could use the road for bus service, no problem. Joe still said he couldn’t use the road because it was a private drive, which I do understand. My point here is that I tried to work with the bus company on three separate occasions without any willingness to come up with a solution.”

In addition to having to turn away parents who want to use her childcare service because of the lack of transportation to and from her business, Frank said she has incurred additional costs because she has to have employees stay late so she can take children to the crosswalk in front of City Hall.

“I have been asked by several different parents if they can have their children get on and off the bus in front of the daycare but unfortunately, I’ve had to turn them down or turn them away because I don’t have enough staff in the morning to leave the facility to put the children on the bus at the crosswalk,” Frank added. “It may not seem like a big deal to get children on and off the bus but when they get off the bus, they are in my care, and I cannot have them walk from the crosswalk to the daycare unattended.”

Frank cited traffic on Hwy. 50 and Lee Street as hazardous for children.

“Having a bus stop at the daycare would be beneficial not only for my business to succeed but to make sure the children in my care are safe,” she added.

In response to a question from DeCramer, Frank said currently only one student rides the bus but added she can’t take any more because of the bus situation.

“How many potential then, would you say?” DeCramer asked.

Frank said at least six people have asked her about before-school care but she cannot accommodate them.

Also addressing the board during open forum was AJ Womack.

Womack asked the board if they could open up a discussion to return to a five-day workweek. Womack cited the schedule of working parents and childcare are issues with the current work week as reasons to examine the policy.

SUMMER SCHOOL REPORT

Smith told the board the average daily attendance for summer school was 85.36%. A staff survey indicated 95% thought teaching in the Summer Journey Program was a positive experience. There were 181 parents and 96.6% of them agreed they would recommend the program to others. The estimated total net revenue from the summer school program was $120,158.

Board member Mark Baker pointed out that a parent’s comment in the survey said that the school’s policy of not allowing the bus pickup site to be different than the dropoff site is cumbersome to their situation.

“This is, yet again, another comment that we received that our busing situation is not satisfactory and needs improvement,” said Baker.

He told fellow board members that his mother, Bonnie Baker, was a contact person who worked for Catapult for six years and started out being the liaison for the summer school program this year, before being asked to step down.

“Due to, I guess, a complaint from the superintendent, (she) was asked to step down from it this year,” said Baker. “It was very hurtful to her. She spent over 20 years working at the Linn school district, many as an administrator and had done this for six years. That was pretty hurtful. I spoke last month about retaliation and I kinda wonder if that’s what it was.”

After a moment of silence, one individual in the crowd addressed Smith asking, “No answers to questions or anything?”

“I didn’t hear a question,” Smith said.

Baker’s comments and concerns about his mother were addressed in closed session.

COVID GUIDANCE

Smith provided an update from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) regarding operating guidance.

“DESE came out with an option four, for schools to keep kids in school if they were close contact,” Smith said. “We were waiting for guidance from the Osage County Health Department as to whether or not they were going to allow option four and that came late Friday (Oct. 15) afternoon that, yes, they would.”

On Oct. 8, DESE added another option to their COVID-19 Operating Guidance and called it Test to Stay.

“That is basically saying that if you’re a close contact, as long as it’s not a household exposure, you can stay at school as long as you don’t develop symptoms of COVID-19 throughout the full duration of the quarantine, which is 14 days past the date of last exposure,” Smith said. “You wear a mask consistently and correctly in school at all times during the quarantine, so again that 14 days, and then we would do a minimum of three rapid antigen tests during the first seven days of the quarantine period. So, test one would be upon identifying them as a close contact, then test two and three would be two non-consecutive school days within the first seven days of the quarantine. We would have to do that as they came to school in the mornings. So, Johnny is a close contact ... we test him right then, of course with all of that it is with parental permission. They also still have the option of having their child quarantined at home. Then, day four is another day that we’re going to test them; we test them as soon as they get to school that morning and then we test them again on day seven.”

Under option four, students can still participate in extracurricular activities so long as they are tested on the day of participation in a contest.

“I will say the rapid test that they do are not ... they’re not touching your brain so it’s not as invasive as the other test,” said Smith. “I just want to throw that out there that it is an option. It’s one we can legally provide to parents as an option. I just want to know your thoughts.”

“Wasn’t it Jeff City or Blair Oaks or who it was ... didn’t they move to just put the close contact in a mask and watch for symptoms?” board member Dr. Shawn Strong asked.

“I do think that they have done that,” Smith replied. “Part of that’s based on the county.”

“Have we had student-to-student transmission this year that we’re aware of?” Dr. Strong asked.

“Yeah,” said Smith.

“How many do we have out right now?” DeCramer asked.

“None that I’m aware of,” said Smith, adding that if students are vaccinated, they do not have to test or quarantine, but still must self-monitor for symptoms. “If they’re vaccinated none of that applies.” 

“Is this antigen test that you take the test and then you have to submit the results to the state and then they send you back the results?” Dr. Strong asked.

“No, it’s a rapid test,” said Smith. “The one we do is the BinaxNOW test, you get it within I think 15 minutes.”

“We had the option to do it at State Tech and it was the same test, but I’d swear we had to send the results to the state,” said Dr. Strong.

“No, this one actually says receive a minimum of three rapid antigen tests, for example, BinexNOW, which is what we use,” said Smith. “We have to report the results to the state, but we don’t have to send the tests to be evaluated by the state.”

“That’s what I was referring to, you have to send the results to the state,” said Dr. Strong.

“Any BinexNOW test that we give we have to account for,” said Smith. “So, it’s another option, unless you don’t want us to offer it. Again, it’s not one they have to take. I know we have some parents who have said can you just test my kid repeatedly so they can stay in school; test them every day,” said Smith.

“So, that’s the only way we can keep them in school? That’s what you’re saying?” asked Dr. Strong.

“Unless we mask,” said Smith.

“I don’t think we have an option,” said Dr. Strong. “Do we agree? I mean, if that’s it?” 

“They can still quarantine,” said Smith.

“What’s the use of a quarantine if you’re going to let them out of school? What if they test positive that third time? Are you going to take all the other kids out of school they’ve been in contact with?” an attendee asked.

“They get the same drill all over again,” said Dr. Strong.

“That goes back to the guidelines,” said Smith.

“It’s going to start over, but if you don’t have an option you don’t have an option,” said Dr. Strong. “I think we want to keep talking to the health department about following something like what they are doing in other school districts where they put the close contacts in a mask and watch for symptoms. That seems super logical to me.”

“Does action need to be taken on this?” Baker asked,

“This was an option I wanted to discuss to make sure that you all didn’t have any issues with us offering it as an option,” said Smith.

“Whatever it takes to keep kids in school,” said Baker.

“I agree with Shawn,” said DeCramer. “We can talk to the health department some more, maybe?”

“Over time they are going to get more relaxed,” said Dr. Strong. “I mean as the number of cases goes down they’re going to get more flexible. Hopefully sooner rather than later.”

In other business, board members approved an amendment to the budget after the district saw additional funds from a tax revenue increase due to assessed valuation in the amount of $94,904 and the addition of money from the Department of Health and Senior Services grant of $144,000. Smith advised the board that some money was moved into Fund 4 in the amount of $127,476, which left a net revenue gain of $111,428 for the district.

While there is a gain reported, there was also an increase in expenditures in the amount of $141,493, which left the district with a surplus of $57,810 after taking into account the initial budget surplus of $87,875.

* The board will review its volunteer policy and address it next month.

*  Bills were approved for payment of $539,041.39. The school has a checking and investment balance of $2,761,512.75, including investments of $473,404.56 through Mid America Bank.