Reynolds shutters remainder of school year

BY CHUCK VANDENBERG
PCC EDITOR

JOHNSTON - Iowa's public and private schools have been closed through the remainder of the school year by Governor Kim Reynolds.

At Friday's daily press conference at the state's Emergency Operations Center, Reynolds said the state just didn't have the data to support reopening schools with many districts having less than six weeks remaining.

Reynolds and Iowa Department of Education Director Dr. Ann Lebo addressed the issues facing the state's school districts.

"As we look at what the data is telling us now, I can't tell you with certainty from Department of Public Health data that they are providing to the office, that early May would be the right time for students, teachers, and staff to gather in their classroom, so I regret to say that Iowa's school will not reopen for this school year," Reynolds said.

Lebo said the decision was difficult one.

"We do know the challenges this creates, but we also do know this decision is necessary to ensure the health and safety of those we service," Lebo said.

Lebo also said the decision results in the cancellation of all spring sports and other sanctioned school activities and events which could include prom and graduation. She said the state will provide more information by June 1 on the summer sports season.

She said despite the building closures, learning opportunities continue in programs that Iowa schools set up in a matter of weeks. Lebo said the state will continue to assist in the development of distance learning programs because the state will need them going forward and some districts had hurdles to overcome.

"We expect there to be a transition and we'll do what we can to help them with this because this is something we're going to have to make sure were going to be able to do going forward," Lebo said.

Lebo said instructional time will be waived for districts that provided either a volunteer or required learning program during the suspension and ultimate closure. She said however, that schools are required to design and submit a "Return to Learn" plan to the department by July 1

But she said the decisions on when to start, progression of students and other issues facing the state's districts will be made at the local levels.

Reynolds also waived the start date for the new school year in August to allow room for district to start early for remediation purposes. She said all the decisions she's had to make have repercussions on families, students, and businesses across the state.

"That's why I waived the start date for the possibility for schools to start three weeks early and start some of that remediation and start to see where the kids are at and provide instruction they need to get them where they should be at and ready to move forward," she said.

When asked by a pool reporter if the state had any data on the number of students actually participating in the voluntary learning programs, Lebo said she didn't have date nor how to gather the data.

The state saw 191 new positive cases in the past 24 hours for 2,332 total positives in 82 counties across the state. The State Hygienic Lab has over 10,000 tests now available and the death toll has reached 64.

Reynolds said 2,700 tests were sent to the Tyson Foods facility in Waterloo and testing at the Columbus Junction meat processing facility should be completed over the weekend.

The Waterloo facility continues to operate with "relaxed" attendence policies, Reynolds said. She said the state has sent additional support teams to the site to try and help mitigate the spread and possibly keep the facility open.

She also said a conference call with governors and the Trump administration showed that the state is inline with some of the metrics the country is looking at deciding when to start opening economies back up.

But Reynolds cautioned that the state's still have authority to move on their own with responsibility and caution based on data in front of them individually. She said she's been working in conjunction with neighboring states to the north, south and west because a coalition of sorts had been formed with those governors when severe flooding hit last year.

"That's the unit we've been working with to talk about how to reopen as a region," she said.