Columbia school board to get update on return to classrooms

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Columbia Board of Education will hold a special meeting Tuesday afternoon to get and update from the administration on the district’s reopening plan as the COVID-19 case rate continues to fall.

Columbia Public Schools spokeswoman Michelle Baumstark wrote in an email that CPS wants a safe return to in-person learning.

"We’re continuing to monitor the numbers and are extremely encouraged by the downward trend we’re seeing," Baumstark said.

Watch the meeting live at 4:30 p.m. in the player below.

As of Tuesday, the district's 14-day COVID-19 case tracker was 32.9 per 10,000 people, below the rate of 50 at which CPS has said it could move into hybrid learning.

In early August, the Columbia Missouri National Education Association offered follow-up recommendations to change the distance learning benchmark to 30 instead of 50.

In an interview from August, Noelle Gilzow, a teacher from Hickman High School said in order to reach 50 cases per 10,000 it would require 650 new cases in a 14-day period, which is about 46 new cases per day.

"For the safety of teachers and students at both levels it's more reasonable to have a number that isn't quite so critical to be the benchmark for switching over to virtual." Gilzow said.

Baumstark said Tuesday's special meeting will be an overall update for the board to look at all of the options and possible next steps for CPS.

The board plans to have a discussion but will not vote on anything.

Superintendent Peter Stiepleman said in the special session Sept. 24 they will wait a week to implement a plan to return to class after a school board vote. The administration plans to make a recommendation at its meeting next Monday.