DES MOINES, Iowa — Des Moines Public Schools, like other school districts in the Iowa, continue to maximize their resources together to try and meet Return to Learn guidelines issued by the Iowa Department of Education.
The DMPS board met on Friday to discuss how the district will attempt to meet these guidelines. The DOE approved the district's plan in early July, but then Gov. Kim Reynolds announced further instruction for districts.
These instructions said in-person learning must take place 50% of the time. DMPS didn't plan for that.
Des Moines Public Schools decided to add the following changes to its Return to Learn plan:
- Delay the start of the school year to shortly after Labor Day. Professional Development days currently scheduled throughout the year would be held prior to the start of classes so that the 2020-21 school year ends as currently scheduled.
- The 2020-21 school year would begin fully virtual across all grade levels.
- As soon as it is safe to do so, DMPS would transition to the hybrid learning model for elementary and middle school students who registered for that plan.
- High school classes would most likely be held entirely online for the Fall semester, with the exception of some in-person classes at Central Campus.
Monday, President Joshua Brown with the Des Moines Education Association sat down over Zoom with Local 5 to discuss the likelihood of the DOE accepting the district's plans.
Will the state approve the district's plans?
Brown said the the district will submit the amendments to the plan and see what the governor and state does.
"I think the governor of the state should allow there to be an exemption for our school district," Brown said.
"The problem with a system the size of Des Moines is that we can't turn on the dime. And we need to be able to do what's best for the students here, and the governor's regulations and her proclamation really don't allow that to happen."
Does the DMEA agree with the DMPS approach to "Return to Learn"?
Brown said that the DMEA does agree with the district's Return to Learn proposals. The district surveyed members and found that a majority of them want to get back into schools and work one-on-one with kids, but they want to do it safely.
"And the reality is right now it's not safe to open up our schools fully the way that the governor is expecting schools open up," Brown said.
Brown said over 94% of DMEA members voted last week to support delaying the school year and to start it virtually.
Is there any anticipation of staffing issues should the state reject the DMPS plan?
"So, I think, of course there's going to be issues around staffing as we return to learn if we're forced to be back into an in-person setting," Brown said.
Brown said the DMEA and DMPS had been working on a sub shortage committee to combat the shortage of substitute teachers before the pandemic hit. He noted that there have been shortages for the last three to four years.
Brown also said about 30% of DMPS employees have been diagnosed as being in the high-risk population of serious illness if infected with COVID-19.
"DMEA and DMPS have been working together on a sub-shortage committee, trying to figure out how to deal with the sub crises already, and you compound that with this global pandemic where most of our subs are retired teachers who have already told us they are not going to be coming back during, as long as this pandemic is happening," Brown explained.
That's why Brown said the Des Moines plan right now is the best option. He said this approach would allow a "consistent, quality education system set in place" for every single student in the district.
Brown said the latter would be an "inconsistent approach where we're opening and closing schools based on health conditions."
What should high-risk teachers do if in-person learning is required?
Since June, the district has asked high-risk teachers to request accommodations to be able to teach either 100% virtually or request to have other accommodations that they feel like they need to do their job in a different way.
Brown said that the goal is to eventually get everyone back into classrooms.
"We support the idea of going to 100% virtual start, but eventually we will get back to our classrooms and that may or may not be while the pandemic is still happening and before there's a vaccine," Brown said.
"So, we need to be able to be ready to support the best safety measures possible for any staff that's going to report at that time."
What are your thoughts on the 15-20% positivity rate threshold from the state?
In order to move to 100% virtual learning, the county that the district is in must be experiencing a positivity rate of 15 to 20%.
Brown said he thinks the threshold is "absolutely ridiculous."
"It's not taking into consideration from any of the medical health experts that are in our communities, actually telling us what we should be doing, or even picking consideration when it's been said by the national CDC and other sources, like WHO," Brown said.
"I think that we need to be listening to what science says, and do whatever we can to be able to keep our kids safe during this pandemic. And that may mean that we are going to be working even harder virtually," Brown continued.
Brown said that working virtually is actually harder for teachers, but they're ready to do what they they can for their students.
"Our staff is ready to step up and to do the best possible job to support our students, no matter whether or not they're in our classrooms, or they're connecting with us virtually."
What are your thoughts on the state rejecting Rolling Green Elementary's request to continue online learning?
Families in the Urbandale Community School District learned Monday that Rolling Green Elementary will have to decide whether to potentially break the law and continue 100% virtual learning or go back to the building this Friday.
"Yeah, the state making that decision on Rolling Green just makes me sick to my stomach," Brown said.
Brown noted that the state's "political approach" that all schools should be running in-person is making decisions harder for school boards. He said that he reached out to the Urbandale district to see if there's anything the DMEA can do for them.
"We know we're going to have to fight the governor on this, they're not going to just allow us to make the right decisions for our kids," Brown said.
Brown said that the DMEA will continue to support the DMPS school board and superintendent in "any method that they feel is possible" to prioritize the safety of students and staff and the entire community at large.
"There isn't going to be a one easy answer here, it's going to be tough, gonna be hard work but I think that it's the right work," Brown said.
"We shouldn't be putting our kids or staff in harm's way just to please the governor."