Gov. Reynolds announces guidance on when schools can temporarily close due to coronavirus
DES MOINES, Iowa — Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Department of Education on Thursday released guidance on when schools can ask to temporarily close due to coronavirus and transition to online learning, which includes a 15% coronavirus test positivity rate in a county.
Reynolds on July 17 announced school districts must give in-person instruction at least 50% of the time, unless an individual school or school district gets a waiver from the Department of Education to temporarily transition to remote learning.
This forced some school districts to change their "Return to Learn" proposals, including Iowa City schools, which planned to begin the school year fully online. Teachers and parents have protested the proclamation.
“We need to keep our next generation learning, growing and preparing for a bright future and online learning is an essential component of that,” Reynolds said during a Thursday news conference in Des Moines. “But it can’t make up for the critical role our schools play in the development of social and emotional skills that our children rely on.”
On Thursday, Reynolds outlined the threshold for when schools and districts can request to go temporarily virtual: A positivity rate of 15% or higher in a county—which is above recommendations from global and national public health experts—coupled with 10% of students absent from class. School districts wishing to move instruction temporarily online must apply to the Department of Education to get authorization and remote learning will be granted on a case-by-case basis for up to two weeks at a time.
Parents, though, can choose that their child learns fully online without prior state approval.
The new guidance includes four categories of “community transmission” of coronavirus with varying positivity rate benchmarks, which have corresponding strategies and return-to-learn models:
- “None to minimal” community transmission: 0-5% average positivity rate in a county over past 14-days. On-site learning following public health guidance and hybrid learning if a parent chooses or a student gets sick and needs to quarantine
- “Minimal to moderate:” 6-14% average positivity rate in a county over past 14-days. On-site learning and hybrid learning if a parent chooses or a student gets sick and needs to quarantine
- “Substantial controlled:” 15-20% average positivity rate in a county over past 14-days and 10% absenteeism among students. Hybrid learning if a parent chooses or student needs to quarantine. Temporary remote learning for an entire school building or district for up to 14 days may be requested only if the Department of Education and the Department of Public Health approve it.
- “Substantial uncontrolled:” . Temporary remote learning for an entire school building or district for up to 14 days may be requested only if the Department of Education and the Department of Public Health approve it.
The Iowa State Education Association criticized the state's thresholds as "outlandish."
"If in fact a 20% positivity rate is the point at which our schools can ask for permission to close school buildings for 14 days, that means 1 in 5 Iowans will need to test positive," said Mike Beranek, president of of ISEA, said in a statement. "And perhaps experience severe to drastic consequences before we can take the steps necessary to protect the health and safety of our students, educators and school communities."
The governor has maintained returning to school in person is essential not just for students' education, but also for their overall well-being. She also emphasizes the essential services schools provide for some families, like meals for poor Iowans on the free and reduced lunch program and child supervision for parents who are both working.
Reynolds mentioned that the U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams recommends schools re-open with less than 10% positivity rates and she said 93 of Iowa’s 99 counties have a 14-day average positivity rate that falls below that threshold. But the very guidance she detailed Thursday suggests in-person learning even if positivity rates exceed 10%.
When asked about where the benchmark to request online learning came from, Reynolds said positivity rates up to 14% are “adequate” for in-school learning without providing specifics.
“Once we get above that and we have over 10% absenteeism between staff and students, we need to look at doing something different,” she said.
The World Health Organization has advised governments shouldn’t allow reopening until there’s a positivity rate of 5% or less for 14 days. And CDC Director Robert Redfield said last week that schools should re-open but there should be exceptions for what he calls “hot spots,”or places where there’s a positivity rate of 5% or greater, according to The Washington Post.
Dr. Caitlin Pedati, the state epidemiologist and medical director, also cited a statistic showing 6% of Iowa's reported positive cases are children under the age of 18 to bolster the state's recommendations for school re-opening.
"That means the children here in Iowa are not the primary drivers of this pandemic. In fact we know children are less likely to become infected and when they do, they appear to have a less severe illness," Pedati said. Reynolds also pointed to "mounting reasearch" that shows children are less likely to transmit and contract COVID-19.
The Kaiser Family Foundation, a non-partisan organization that analyzes health care policy, published a report Thursday analyzing coronavirus transmission among children, finding that there is not enough evidence to determine the frequency and extent of children's COVID-19 transmission to others.
Students are not required to wear masks by the Department of Education, but the school district can choose to have their own requirements. Reynolds so far has resisted a statewide order mandating mask-wearing in public spaces. She said Thursday that she's focusing on Iowans taking "personal responsibility."
"There's not a silver bullet. There's not a single answer," Reynolds said when asked about why she won't order Iowans' to wear face coverings.
