Despite a recent uptick in positive COVID-19 cases in the district, the Pella Community School District has been able to move ahead with the vast majority of students in the buildings for learning.

Superintendent Greg Ebeling says they are approaching the end of the first quarter of the 2020-21 school year, and overall student and staff absences have remained around two percent for the first eight weeks of class — which he says remains close to what is typically reported in non-pandemic sessions.

On October 1st, seven students had tested positive with symptoms for COVID-19 — which is the current high mark for the academic year so far, but as of Thursday, only four students were missing due to a positive virus test.

The Pella School District updates absences daily on an online dashboard here: https://coronavirus.pellaschools.org/stats/