Des Moines Register
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As coronavirus cases surged across Iowa, the West Des Moines school boardvoted Monday night to ask the state for permission to move its students to fully online instruction, and the Waukee board decided to ask to move three schools online.
Johnston is scheduled tovoteTuesday night whether toshift students fully online this weekand ask the state for permission to continue with fully online learning through Nov. 24.
Ames will vote Tuesday night whether to move three elementary schools to online learning.
In addition,Ankeny voted to return from fully in-person instruction to a hybrid model for elementary school studentsbeginning Nov. 16.
Dallas Center-Grimes, Indianola andUrbandale decided to remain in hybrid models for now.
The state requires schools to hold at least 50% of their classes in person, but districts and private schools can ask the state for a waiver to move individual buildings or the entire district to online-only instruction for two weeks. Two main criteria the state considers are whether the county where the district located has a 15% or greater 14-day coronavirus positivity test rate and whether student absenteeism reaches 10%. As of Monday, 82 counties in Iowa had a positivity rate of 15% or greater.
Many districts in the metro area have adopted hybrid learning models to meet the state's 50% in-person learning threshold and to achieve social distancing, with students receiving 50% or more instruction in person and 50% or less online. Schools can shift from fully in-person learning to hybrid instruction without a state waiver.
Ames
The Ames School Board will vote Tuesday whether to move three out of the district’s five elementary buildings into a 100% online model as a result of staff absenteeism.All other students would remain in hybrid.
As of Monday, three out of the five elementary buildings —Edwards, Meeker, Sawyer — have experienced a staff absentee rate of 10 percent, district officials announced during Monday’s school board meeting.
To date, a total of five students and seven staff members currently have COVID-19 at the school district.
As of Monday, a total of 44 students and 21 staff members are in quarantine as a result of having contact with an individual who tested positive, and six staff members are currently awaiting test results.
State health officials reported Story County’s 14-day average positivity rate at 14.7% at 10 a.m. on Monday.
The school board met Monday night during a regular meeting andagreed to discuss the matter the next day as the school had posted.Tuesday's meeting will begin at 3 p.m. The public can join online or in the district's board room,2005 24th St.
– Kiley Wellendorf, Ames Tribune
Ankeny
The Ankeny School Board voted in a special meeting Monday night to return from fully in-person instruction to a hybrid model for all elementary school studentsbeginning Nov. 16. The board will revisit the situation at itsDec. 7 meeting.
The vote aligned with arecommendationfrom the superintendent. Board members met in awork session with the Polk County Health Department to discussthe most recent COVID-19 data.
“We don’t know directly what the solution is but...we’ve been given this matrix, and this matrix says we ought to be in hybrid,” said interim superintendent Dr. Al Azinger.
As of Nov. 5, 31 additional students and 15 staff members tested positive for COVID-19, and 194 students and 31 staff members were inquarantine. The five-day average absence rate for students is 2.6% for students and 8.4% for staff.
Ahead of Thursday — the district's designated reporting date for updating its COVID-19 statistics — the districtreportedan additional 23 students and six staff members have tested positive for the virus. Additionally, 206 students and 23 staff are in quarantine.
—Melody Mercado
Bondurant-Farrar
To address the arising challenges of COVID-19, the Bondurant-Farrar Community School District announced all students will return to the hybrid model starting Nov. 16 and lasting through Nov. 27.
The district said on its website that the decision stemmed from Gov. Kim Reynolds'proclamation issued Tuesday morning, outlining additional public health measures and restrictions to slow the spread of COVID-19.
A determination on whether to continue the hybrid model will be voted on at the Nov. 23 school board meeting.
Currently, the district reports13 students and sevenstaff members are positive for COVID-19, with 144 students and 11 staff members in quarantine.
—Melody Mercado
Dallas Center-Grimes
Dallas Center-Grimes Community School District voted in a special meeting Monday night to remain in its hybrid model until Nov 24.
As of Nov. 5, the district reported 16 students and three staff members currently testing positive for COVID-19. Additionally, 73 students and seven staff members are in quarantine.
The school board plans to discuss return-to-learn plans for after the holiday season at its next meeting on Nov. 23.
— Melody Mercado
Indianola
At itsMonday meeting, the Indianola Community School Board voted unanimously to keep itsoriginal plan in place to return to fully in-person learning starting in the second semester.
Currently, the ICSD has a hybrid learning model that involves an early dismissal for all studentsand optional remote learning.
Despite itsvote Monday night, the school board is keeping itsoptions open for next semester to return to a hybrid learning model with optional remote instruction. Afinal decision could be made ateither of itstwo remaining meetings this semester.
The district has not had a significant outbreak of COVID-19 during the school year.Cases for both students and staff have remained between zero and five since school began.
One recent change made by Indianola Community Schools was implementing mandatory masks for grades K-5 onMonday,Nov. 2.Previously, it was voluntary for these grades and mandatory for grades 6-12.
— George Shillco*ck
Johnston
The Johnston School Boardwill meet Tuesday to act on a recommendation from Superintendent Laura Kacer to move students to fully online instruction this week, some on Wednesday and some on Friday.
In a report to the board, Kacer recommended in a meeting Monday that secondary students—which includethose at Summit Middle School, Johnston Middle and Johnston High Schools— shift to online learning beginning Wednesday. Under the plan, the board would submit a waiver to the state asking for two weeks of online learningthat wouldbegin Nov. 16 and run through Nov. 24.
She also recommended that elementary students move online Friday. The boardwould submit another waiver to elementary students to begin online learning Nov. 16 and run through Nov. 24.
The district does not need a waiver to move schools online immediately since the district's model has included a fully in-person option, the district still meets the requirement for classes to be 50% in-person over a period of 10 days.
Kacer said the decision is largely driven by inadequate staffing due to absences from COVID-19. She said secondary schools are running in the high double digits for teacher absences.
“The plan that we’re in right now is not sustainable for what we're asking of our employees and it’s not responsible,” she said.
A Tuesday special meeting will be livestreamed at 11 a.m., or people can attend in person at the Johnston District Office at 6510 NW 62nd Ave.
— Sarah LeBlanc
Southeast Polk
During a special board meeting Wednesday night the Southeast Polk School Board voted to send students back into its Hybrid 2 model starting Nov. 16 through Nov. 24.
Hybrid 2 is defined as an alternating schedule with designated students attending onsite certain days of the week and online for the remaining days.
The board will reassess local COVID-19 data at its Nov. 19 meeting to decide if it will change learning models when students return from Thanksgiving break.
As of Nov. 11, 30 students and 16 staff members had tested positive for COVID-19. Another 223 students and 49 staff members are in quarantine.
—Melody Mercado
Urbandale
The Urbandale School Board decidedMonday night that its students wouldremainin ahybrid model through the end of the first semester, Jan.15, 2021.
The board unanimously approved arecommendation from its superintendent to continue in the hybrid model.
According to the district's website, as of Thursday seven students and one to five staff members had tested positive. Another ninestaff members and 88 students were in quarantine.
—Sarah LeBlanc
Waukee
Members of the Waukee school board voted unanimously Monday night to ask the Iowa Department of Education for permission to move three schools — Timberline, Prairieview and Waukee Middle School— to fully online learning for at least two weeks.
Another motion passed with one opposed to allow the board to apply for a waiver to moveschools online when they reach 84% daily attendance and if the county positivity rate is at least 15%.Superintendent Brad Buck said he expects other schools to reach that criteria by the end of the week.
"We could be by the next board meeting seeking the district waiver for the next two weeks after Thanksgiving because they’re all already there," he said.
An email to parents Sunday evening announced that Prairieview and Waukee Middle would be moved online this week. Buck said during the meeting that Timberline would be moved online Tuesday.
Each school will be fully online this week, and if the waiver is approved, will remain online through Nov. 27, returning Nov. 30.
Updated numbers from the district as of Monday show that 96 students and 22 staff members have tested positive for COVID-19, while 500 students and staff are quarantining and 602 are being monitored by school nurses.
— Sarah LeBlanc
West Des Moines
The West Des Moines Community School District school board voted Monday to apply for state permission to move all schools online, as recommended by the district's administration.
The dates that the West Des Moines school district will request to hold virtually are Nov. 16-20, Nov. 23-24 and Nov. 30 through Dec. 2. The district had a planned flex day, meaning no school, on Nov. 25 before the two-day Thanksgiving break.
The West Des Moines school board also made a contingency plan should the state deny itsapplication. If the districtwide request is rejected, the district has the board’s permission to file one or more applications for individual schools to go virtual.
Districtwide, 51 students tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, between Oct. 24 and Nov. 6. Ten are elementary students and 41 are in middle or high school.A total of 230 students— 96 in elementary and 134 in secondary— were quarantined as a result of close contact with an infected person within the same two-week period.
—Shelby Fleig
