The Republican governor of Iowa issued a mandate overriding policies set forth by local school districts limiting in-person classes this fall to just one day a week.
”One of the most important milestones in our recovery effort is getting Iowa students back to school,“ Gov. Kim Reynolds said at a news conference on Friday. “And while we all know this school year will be different than ever before, it’s critical that we prioritize bringing Iowa’s children back to the classroom safely and responsibly.”
Reynolds’s mandate would require students to spend at least 50% of the school week in the school building.
“The plan is not perfect,” Tom Ahart, the superintendent of Des Moines public schools (the largest in the state), told the Des Moines Register about the one-day-a-week plan his district announced. “We’re being asked to do the impossible, and we’re giving it our very best effort.”
Classes there are set to begin Aug. 26.
Districts could seek waivers from the 50% requirement through the state’s Education Department, Reynolds said, in the event that a locality experiences a spike in coronavirus cases.
As of Friday, nearly 38,000 Iowans have tested positive for the coronavirus, and more than 780 people in the state have died, according to state health department data.
President Trump has insisted that schools reopen for full-time, in-person instruction this fall.
“We do want to get our schools open,” Trump said Wednesday. “There’s virtually no impact on children. They’re just stronger than we are, their immune system or whatever it may be, but we want the schools open.”
The White House has said local school districts should not let public health guidelines get in the way of a safe return to classes this fall.
“We don’t think our children should be locked up at home with devastating consequences when it’s perfectly safe for them to go to school,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said last week. “The science should not stand in the way of this. … The science is on our side here, and we encourage for localities and states to just simply follow the science, open our schools.”
