318 Staff News
School Board Meeting Highlights
The School Board met for a regular meeting on Monday, October 25. At the meeting, the COVID Sick Leave Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for 2021-2022 was approved. The MOU will offer paid leave in specific circumstances while balancing the support of our staff during the pandemic and ensures that staff shortages do not overwhelm our schools.

The paid leave will be available to staff who have tested positive for COVID-19 OR staff who are vaccinated and in a required quarantine based on district guidelines. A copy of the MOU has been provided to unit leadership. This MOU is set to expire on June 30, 2022.

Also at the meeting, the Board approved naming the GRHS practice football/lacrosse field based on the recommendation of a naming committee that had been assembled. The field will be known as the Tom Drazenovich Field. Coach Drazenovich was a teacher at GRHS and served as a coach for football, track and field, and basketball. He also established the curriculum in personal fitness and strength conditioning and supported our student-athletes in the weight room.

A recording of the meeting is available on our website.
COVID-19 Mitigation Thresholds
At the board meeting on Monday, the School Board also reviewed the COVID-19 Mitigation Threshold. The threshold document clearly defines when a classroom, school, or the district will require masks on a temporary basis.

If an elementary classroom reaches two or more positive COVID-19 cases in a 7-day period, the mask requirement will be implemented for two weeks. Because students at the secondary level travel between classrooms and mix at lunch, we will not use a classroom basis for mask requirements. Instead, if a school building sees 3% of its student population in positive COVID-19 cases in a 7-day period, they will be required to wear face coverings for two weeks.

A threshold of 3% was chosen because MDH has long-defined 5% of influenza-like illnesses (ILI) as the basis for requiring school reporting. Our goal is to slow the spread of COVID before reaching the 5% threshold. As we have indicated previously, our goal is to keep as many children in school for as long as possible. We are confident that the temporary mask requirements will help us reach that goal.

The thresholds have been in use since the beginning of the year, but have now been made available in the threshold document for families and staff. You will find a copy of the threshold flyer on the COVID-19 page of our website.
Welcome New Staff
Also at the Board Meeting on October 25, the following hires were approved:
  • Dustin LaFond, Grand Rapids Bus Driver
  • Krista Thole, District Occupational Therapist

Let’s all give our newest staff members a warm welcome. We’re so glad to have you as a part of our team!
318Pride Stories
Each of you has already done so much to make the year successful. It's clear how committed you are to helping our students succeed. We're grateful for all you do.

We know there is so much good happening and we're relying on you to share it with us! If you have a story you'd like to share about your peers, drop it into our new 318Pride form!