Some schools districts have taken the position they can safely educate students. I live in Dubuque and there was a lot of concern going into August because of the level of community spread. The district decided to go with a 50/50 option of in-person and online learning. Overall about 78% of parents chose to go with the 50/50 structure and about 22% went with 100% online.
Today was the start of the 3rd week of school and there has been 1 student (Pre-K) and 2 teachers (1 Middle & 1 District Office) who have tested positive. There are 8000 students and 2000 teachers/administrators in the Dubuque Public School District.
It early and an outbreak could happen, but so far school administrators, teachers and children parents have provided a safe learning environment.
In Des Moines area I have seen published dashboards for West Des Moines and Waukee Schools Districts. They show the following positive cases:
- WDM - 15 Students/ 5 Staff (K-12) with 126 students/staff in quarantine for 14 days due to close contact. I did a internet search and WDM district has 8,800 students and 1,250 staff.
- Waukee - 11 Students/ 5 Staff (K-12) with 269 students/staff in quarantine for 14 days due to close contact. Waukee disctict has 9,200 students and 1,800 staff.
So among the 3 school districts which I found published dashboards, there are 27 students who have tested positive for Covid among 26,000 students. People keep saying- FOLLOW THE DATA!! So far the data shows in-person education is safe for students.
I have no issue with DMPS system deciding on 100% online education based on the heightened risk of community spread among their students & communities. But if that is their reasoning for going 100% online, then they need to be consistent with the risks that sport participation places upon their students.