Saturday, Aug. 8 marks five months since the first cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Iowa, and on Friday Gov. Kim Reynolds’ office published an open letter from the governor about the pandemic, in which she said “we’re all working toward the same goal.”
“Now is not the time to let our guard down,” Reynolds said.
“Iowa has a lot to gain by working together to keep our communities healthy. Especially now, as we’re preparing to safely return to school.”
The letter came at the end of a week in which Reynolds warned school districts they would face penalties if they provide less than 50 percent of their instruction in an in-person format without first receiving permission from the Iowa Department of Education (DOE) to offer fewer in-person hours. It is up to DOE, not local school districts or county public health agencies, to determine if the level of COVID-19 spread in a county means it would be safer for schools to reduce in-person instruction from the required 50 percent level or to switch to all online instruction for a limited time.
On Thursday, DOE rejected the Iowa City Community School District’s application for a waiver to begin the new school year with two weeks of online instruction, despite a letter from Johnson County Public Health Director Dave Koch stating his department agreed online instruction was the best option “given our current local situation and assessment of many factors in Johnson County.”
Koch pointed out the surge in cases in Johnson County that began in mid-June was driven by infections among younger adults, and said “we strongly believe that we will experience another, larger surge in cases as [University of Iowa] students return, and that illness will spread not only in students but throughout the community.”
So far, DOE has not approved any requests for waivers for the upcoming school year.
At her press conference on Tuesday, Reynolds said schools that provide less than 50 percent in-person instruction without a DOE waiver will not have their classes counted as official instructional time. District officials may also face “licensure discipline,” according to the governor. But on Friday, Rolling Green Elementary School in the Urbandale School District continued with all online classes, even though its request for waiver was rejected by DOE.
Rolling Green, a year-round school, had received a DOE waiver to offer online classes last month. That waiver expired on Thursday, and the department rejected Urbandale Schools’ request for an extension on Monday. During its Monday meeting, the Urbandale school board voted unanimously to continue online-only classes at Rolling Green because of the rate at which COVID-19 is spreading in Polk County, where Rolling Green is located.
“I think that it may be appropriate for rural districts to reopen,” board member Stacy Andersen said. “I don’t think it’s appropriate for Polk County. I believe that the governor is negligent in her proclamation [about in-person instruction] and it is not oriented on family safety.”
Although Urbandale is the first school district to proceed with online classes without receiving a waiver, it is not the only district that has pushed back against the governor’s 50 percent requirement.
During the ICSSD Board of Directors special meeting on Tuesday, Board President Shawn Eyestone read a statement about the board’s opposition to Reynolds’ requirement.
“We believe in local control, and this circumstance is no different,” he said. “We further believe that decisions regarding the health and safety of our students, staff and the general community are best made by those most closely associated with the decision-making.”
The statement cited three provisions in the state law that give school districts broad authority to control conditions in their schools and make changes to protect the safety of students and staff. The board in the Waukee School District published an almost identical statement earlier in the week.
At its meeting next Tuesday, the ICCSD board will discuss its next steps following DOE’s rejection of its waiver request.
Since Iowa’s first cases of COVID-19 were detected in Johnson County on March 8, more than 2,000 of its residents have tested positive for the virus. As of 10 a.m. on Saturday, the Iowa Department of Public Health was reporting 2,055 confirmed cases in Johnson County.
Statewide, IDPH reported a total of 48,112 Iowans had tested positive for COVID-19 as of 10 a.m. on Saturday, an increase of 383 cases since the same time on Friday.
The department also reported 13 more deaths from the virus, bringing the state’s COVID-19 death toll to 925. Three of the newly reported deaths were in Johnson County. A total of 19 of the county’s residents have died from the virus.
According to IDPH, there were 19 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Johnson County on Friday, and 27 new cases confirmed in Linn County. The daily positivity rate — the number of people tested who were confirmed as having the virus — in Johnson County on Friday was 9 percent. In Linn County, it was 9.2 percent.
IDPH considers 36,850 of the Iowans who have tested positive for COVID-19 to be recovered. The department automatically considers anyone who tests positive to be recovered after 28 days, unless it is informed otherwise.
