Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Friday morning Iowa’s K-12 students and staff will not be returning to physical classrooms for the remainder of the 2020 school year. Reynolds said during her daily press conference that data from the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) suggests returning before the end of May does not futher their goal of flattening the curve and slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus. Districts must continue to provide some form of continuing education, be it through voluntary or required enrichment opportunities. According to Iowa Department of Education Director, Ann Lebo, the school closure extension includes the spring sports seasons, and they plan to release more information on the summer seasons by June 1. Missed instructional time through the end of the year will be waived if districts continue to provide distance learning opportunities. Lebo directed teachers and administrators to begin preparing “Return to Learn” plans, which will outline how individual districts intend to backfill missed instructional content, either through summer classes, altering future lesson plans or other methods. Reynolds also announced they would be waiving start date requirements for the 2020-21 school year to allow for districts to potentially begin classes earlier in August. Friday’s update from the IDPH reports 191 new COVID-19 cases have been confirmed, bringing the state’s total as of April 17 to 2,332. State health officials also recorded four additional coronavirus-related deaths, marking 64 deaths to date. As for the listening area, Audubon, Carroll and Greene Counties remain at a single confirmed case. Guthrie County stands at three, Crawford at six and Shelby County at nine. For more information on COVID-19 in Iowa, follow the link included below.
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