NE Iowa News

School leaders in Clayton and Delaware County are caught in a delicate balancing act between providing in-person instruction or offering virtual classes to avoid COVID-19 clusters.

Iowa state officials had originally taken the stance school leadership could only ask for permission to close down if counties had an average positivity rate or at least 15% with at least 10% students absent or a county positivity rate of 20% over 14 days. That stance has been softened somewhat, the Telegraph Herald reported. An application for in-person instruction will be considered if those benchmarks are not met.

As of Sept. 6, for department of health percentages, eight counties in the state were over 15% over the past 14 days with Johnson coming in the highest with a 24.2%, the state dashboard stats reported. Delaware reported 14.1% and Clayton was in better shape with a 6.2% report. The Telegraph Herald reported county numbers run higher than school district because the state does not count positive tests until all data such as birthdates are received.

School districts are staying optimistic but preparing for anything.

“I think if our numbers start to rise, we will definitely look into the waiver,” Edgewood-Colesburg Community School District Superintendent Rob Busch said, the Telegraph Herald reported. “We are monitoring it on a daily basis.”