Governor Kim Reynolds says Iowa school districts given permission to conduct ALL classes online due to high COVID case counts may do so for 14 days. Districts will have to AGAIN get state officials’ permission for subsequent weeks.

State Epidemiologist Caitlyn Pedati says since the older you are, the more the risk of illness, teachers interacting with other teachers and school staff must be on guard.

The president of the Iowa State Education Association says the governor’s back-to-school guidelines show she has “an outlandish notion” of when it’s safe to reopen schools. State education officials say the forms for districts seeking permission to shift to 14-days of online-only classes will be available online next week. A spokeswoman for the agency says schools will be notified as quickly as possible if their waiver is granted. Iowa’s mandatory school start date law has been suspended and schools may begin the fall semester earlier in August.