With the announcement from Governor Kim Reynolds cancelling school until April 30th, the Highland School District has been using online platforms to reach out to students. The Iowa Department of Education has now made it mandatory for schools to report if they are providing continued learning opportunities by April 10th. School districts who decide to not provide any sort of continued learning, either required or voluntary, will be required to make up those days. Highland Superintendent Ken Crawford is skeptical of a return on May 1st. He tells KCII News the difficulties the district is facing during the extended closure, “If we come back in May I mean our online learning has been good as far as supplemental and should keep everybody sharp, if they’re doing it. It still takes a matter of people going on, logging on Google Classroom or using our Iready that we have lined up in the elementary. It’s a matter of are they going to do those things and keep sharp on that if we come back on May 1st. If we come back on May 1st, and I think that’s a big if, it will be 100 miles per hour. It will be crazy trying to squeeze in, not just trying to catch up on classes, but just trying to get through three weeks of work in, trying to get to graduation, trying to get sports in there. So if we come back on May 1st, we’re hoping these few weeks will be a good set up so it won’t seem like a whole new school year.” While online learning will work for most, some have issues with internet access at home. Before spring break, Crawford says the school district assessed who does and does not have adequate internet access and accommodated those students as much as possible with physical paper packets to take home. Teachers are also checking programs used by the school, such as Google Classroom, to see if students are connecting and checking up on students’ progress.