The Iowa City Community School District is waiting for an answer from the state on a request made Tuesday to temporarily hold all classes remotely due to rising COVID-19 positivity rates in Johnson County.
However, it’s unclear if the online-only waiver will be granted: Local positivity rates are below the state’s threshold needed to justify temporary remote learning — Johnson County’s 14-day coronavirus positivity rate average was 11.6{c25493dcd731343503a084f08c3848bd69f9f2f05db01633325a3fd40d9cc7a1} Tuesday morning and the Iowa Department of Education has generally held that communities’ positivity rates should be 15{c25493dcd731343503a084f08c3848bd69f9f2f05db01633325a3fd40d9cc7a1} for waiver requests to be approved.
Iowa City’s pending request is also shadowed by the state’s recent denial of a similar ask by Des Moines Public Schools, the largest district in the state. The state denied a waiver request from Des Moines officials last week, seeking permission to hold classes online between Jan. 4 and 8, saying an 11.5{c25493dcd731343503a084f08c3848bd69f9f2f05db01633325a3fd40d9cc7a1} positivity rate average in Polk County did not meet the threshold needed to justify online-only learning.
Ann Lebo, director of the Iowa Department of Education, told Des Moines officials in a letter that the county’s 11.5{c25493dcd731343503a084f08c3848bd69f9f2f05db01633325a3fd40d9cc7a1} positivity rate was “well below the guideline rate of (15) percent.”
The World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recommended schools not hold in-person learning unless community positivity rates are less than 5{c25493dcd731343503a084f08c3848bd69f9f2f05db01633325a3fd40d9cc7a1}.
The state has also said that it would take into consideration other factors when assessing waiver requests, like absence rates for students and staff. Des Moines’ waiver request was the first in the state to be denied since August.
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A waiver denial for Iowa City schools would leave the district with no option but to continue to hold classes in a hybrid model, even though the district’s school board agreed to a “decision matrix” in early September that says the district will make attempts to hold classes remotely when 14-day coronavirus positivity rates in Johnson County reach 10{c25493dcd731343503a084f08c3848bd69f9f2f05db01633325a3fd40d9cc7a1} for three to five consecutive days.
“We are currently awaiting a decision from the State regarding our waiver request,” according to a district communication from Interim Superintendent Matt Degner Tuesday afternoon. “At this time, no decision has been made to transition to 100{c25493dcd731343503a084f08c3848bd69f9f2f05db01633325a3fd40d9cc7a1} off-site learning.
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“We continue to focus on the health and safety of our staff and students in making these decisions. We will provide an update as soon as we have additional information.”
Following the winter break, classes resumed on Monday for Iowa City students in a “hybrid” model, meaning students not enrolled in the voluntary 100{c25493dcd731343503a084f08c3848bd69f9f2f05db01633325a3fd40d9cc7a1} online learning option will spend half the week taking in-person classes.
The district communicated its intention to hold classes in the hybrid model on Saturday, the first day since mid-December that the positivity rate reached 10{c25493dcd731343503a084f08c3848bd69f9f2f05db01633325a3fd40d9cc7a1}. Tuesday, the day of the waiver request, marked the fourth day in a row with positivity rates above 10{c25493dcd731343503a084f08c3848bd69f9f2f05db01633325a3fd40d9cc7a1}.
The district did not respond to request for comment regarding the timeline of the waiver request.
In mid-December, classes took place in-person on one day, Monday Dec. 14, when positivity rates in Johnson County were above 10{c25493dcd731343503a084f08c3848bd69f9f2f05db01633325a3fd40d9cc7a1}. The district had decided to hold classes in-person that week in anticipation that positivity rates would fall, despite having received permission from the state to hold classes virtually.
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Cleo Krejci covers education for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter via @_CleoKrejci.
