PreK-12 schools

Nearly 150 students and more than 30 staff from the Eagle Grove Community School District in Wright County are quarantining after being exposed to the coronavirus. The district canceled school Thursday and Friday and is doing one week of virtual learning starting Monday.

Counties in the northwest corner of the state are seeing spikes in coronavirus cases, but school districts say they plan to continue with in-person learning.

Des Moines Public Schools has set dates to go back to class in-person next month, but only if Polk County meets target coronavirus levels that remain undefined.

When the coronavirus forced Iowa schools to close down last spring, schools couldn’t require remote learning unless they could accommodate children with special education needs. This school year, many families have chosen remote learning. Some are finding that doing this successfully is a big challenge.

887 students who tried virtual learning through the Sioux City Community School District have returned to in-person classes in the first three weeks of the school year.

The Des Moines School Board has agreed to move the district toward a hybrid learning plan that would comply with state requirements, but only once COVID-19 spread in Polk County declines further.

If Des Moines Public Schools continues to provide primarily online learning, students who were already falling behind will fall through the cracks. That was the warning Monday from parents, students and community groups urging the school board to move the district into a hybrid plan with a virtual option.

Des Moines Public Schools will stay in virtual learning, for now, even after a Polk County judge ruled that without a state waiver the district is violating guidelines for in-person learning during the pandemic.

Des Moines Public Schools has lost a request to temporarily block state Return-to-Learn rules while a lawsuit aimed at overturning them works through the courts. The ruling means the district may have to bring students back in-person at least half of the time or risk making up for virtual days at the end of the year.

Data Scientist Sara Willette is now working with the Iowa State Education Association to track COVID-19 outbreaks at Iowa schools.