Lang
7/29/20
The Iowa City school board is considering pushing back the start of the 2020-21 school year until September 8th.
The proposed move would allow the Iowa Department of Education more time to consider allowing the Iowa City Community School District to start the school year remotely. The district originally wanted to start the school year as normal on August 24th with five weeks of remote learning, but pushing the start date back to September 8th would mean only three weeks of such instruction. If the start of the year is pushed back, the last day of school would be June 11th.
Earlier this month, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds put a stop to the Iowa City district’s plans to start the 2020-21 school year with students learning from home. She said she would override local school districts and require students to spend at least half of their education time in classrooms, despite concerns the move could endanger children and teachers as the number of coronavirus cases increases in the state.
Delaying the start of the school year would also give the district time to assign teachers to either remote or in-classroom learning after parents have e-registered their children. Parents will have the choice of either remote learning or a hybrid of home and in-classroom learning.
A special school board meeting is set for Tuesday, August 5th at 5pm to hold a public forum on the proposal and bring it to a vote.