The Indianola Community School District has required face masks for all students and staff since November 2nd, and despite the record growth of cases in the county, the Indianola School District has largely been able to keep students in school.

Superintendent Art Sathoff tells KNIA News the policy change wasn’t made because of a lack of success with the current policy, but to help as many students as possible stay in school if an outbreak occurs.
“We didn’t make the change on the basis of having large outbreaks, we really are getting along pretty well, and that’s one of the things that made it difficult to change. But I think we are trying to take full advantage of the guidance and rules as they exist, and the guidance on that changes sometimes. The goal is still having as many students in school as possible, that is also why we had students come back to in-person school five days a week when most districts were doing a 2-3 days a week hybrid model.”
The absentee numbers from the Indianola School District shows eight positive student cases and six staff members, last updated on November 25th.