DES MOINES, Iowa — As you start to get your kids ready to go back to school, not everyone is completely comfortable with Return to Learn plans.
More school districts are now releasing their Return to Learn plans, and there's still plenty of questions and concerns.
"Health comes along with education. It's 'how do we provide the best environment to keep everybody as healthy as possible?'" Sharon Guthre, executive director for the Iowa School Nurse Organization, said.
Local 5 received messages from school nurses worried about all kinds of variables.
"Trying to get PPE in some schools has been a challenge. It is in some and it isn't in others. The challenges differ greatly across all of the schools," Guthrie said.
For now, Des Moines Public Schools told Local 5 school nurses will be asked to bring their own masks.
Guthrie meanwhile, who has been working with nurses across the state, said she has heard concerns regarding school cleanliness limitations like having sinks in every room.
"You want to do the best practices but sometimes you are going to be limited with what you have to work with," Guthrie said.
DMPS said this should not be a problem in their district.
"Not only do we have adequate access to soap and water throughout the district but we are also going to have hand sanitizer stations put throughout our buildings," Diane Gladson, health services supervisor for DMPS, said.
There is also worry over nurse staffing.
"One concern is that there is not a nurse in every building all day, every day. Each district has a nurse but that nurse may go between different buildings," Guthrie said.
That may be a problem, especially in some rural areas. But at least here in Des Moines, that shouldn't be something parents have to worry about.
"I do feel very fortunate in Des Moines Public Schools that we do have a nurse in all of our buildings. Some of our elementary buildings do have a part time nurse but we are extending those part time hours," Gladson said.
Both sides are asking parents to not send their kids to school if they're sick.
Something they can start preparing for now.
DMPS will also be implementing an isolation room separate from the nurses office for students who are showing contagious signs of sickness like a fever.
We also received questions from special education teachers, who so often are incapable of doing their job while social distancing.
We reached out to DMPS for comment and they didn't provide much of a concrete answer, saying in part:
"This is a major undertaking and priority for us. The process of creating individual education plans for the 2020-21 school year is just beginning. As our Return to Learn plan notes, IEP teams will be developing plans, with input from families, for the coming year."