WAUKEE, Iowa — With weeks until the first day of school begins for thousands of Iowa students, some school district leaders are defying the state's orders for Return to Learn plans.
July was a chaotic month for school districts across Iowa. First, they submitted their Return to Learn plans to the state Department of Education. A few weeks later, new guidance from the state was provided regarding the need to begin school at least 50% in-person, or else seek a two-week waiver from the state. Days after that, more rules set forth by the state regarding when a district can move from one instructional model to the next.
Leaders for three large school districts, Waukee, Urbandale, and Des Moines, have all issued statements regarding beginning the year with virtual learning.
"We believe in local control and this circumstance is no different," wrote members of the Waukee School Board. "We further believe decisions regarding the health and safety of our students, staff, and the general community is best made by those most closely associated with the decision-making. And, repeated sources of expertise indicate that a more reasonable percentage to consider closure is most frequently cited at 5% and generally ranges from 3% to 10%. These numbers are an indication of where we expect the matrix numbers to land as it relates to the decisions for a temporary move to online....Currently, districts are allowed to call an inclement weather day if the weather conditions present an increased risk of getting students and staff to buildings safely. It would seem that the same logic would follow for local decisions related to the pandemic. For this reason, the WCSD Board of Education, nor the Superintendent, will not be following the guidance set forth on July 30. We will not request permission from the IDOE to temporarily change our learning model should the need arise."
In an interview with Local 5, Waukee Community School District Superintendent Dr. Brad Buck says the Iowa Department of Education is in a "difficult spot" in setting up statewide guidance alongside public health officials.
"What really should be happening here, in our opinion, is ... reasonable guidance needs to be put out," Buck said. "And then local school boards that have been locally elected can dig into that in their context and understand if it's time to go to a fully-online model and for what duration of time."
After hearing that their request for another two-week waiver to continue online learning was denied for Rolling Green Elementary students, the Urbandale School Board met in an emergency meeting Monday night to decide what options they had for the school.
After a long discussion, the board ultimately decided to vote "in favor of prioritizing the safety and health of all Rolling Green students and staff by maintaining the current online instructional model for another two weeks through August 20," wrote Superintendent Steve Bass in an email out to parents on Monday.
The email continues:
Even though public health metrics continue to indicate that Polk County is experiencing a high level of community spread of COVID-19, the Iowa Department of Education (DE) denied the District’s request to extend Rolling Green’s online instructional model (Required Continuous Learning) past August 6. Our School Board believed the risk was too high to bring Rolling Green students and staff together in small spaces for long periods of time. Our preference has always been to align our instructional methods with guidance from our leaders at the DE. We find no pleasure in opposing the DE’s denial of our request to remain online for two more weeks. In fact, if you ask any School Board member, you will know just how agonizing this decision has been in the face of an unprecedented and impossible public health situation. However, impossible situations call for improbable solutions which is why the decision to maintain the current online instructional model for two additional weeks is necessary.
Last week, Gov. Kim Reynolds backed up her decision for a statewide mandate for schools by saying that dozens of districts reside in multiple counties, and therefore would be receiving data and input from multiple entities.
