Area school districts have one month to create their return to learn plans for the 2020-2021 school year. The Iowa Department of Education is requiring school districts to create a plan where the intention is to return to in-person classes in the fall, while also having a contingency plan in place for at-home learning. If the school year encounters closures due to a spike in COVID-19 cases, remote learning will be required, not optional. Highland School District Superintendent Ken Crawford is hoping for more guidance from the Department of Education in order to craft a plan that can be changed if the health situation worsens. Crawford tells KCII News what could be done if needed in the fall, “We feel like putting our lessons together into a format of, ‘Next week I could be teaching this to you live or I could be teaching it to you over Zoom meetings, or over Google Classroom.’ How can we be ready for those changes quickly? I think that versus ‘Oh my God, it’s Monday well I have to put all these things together.’ Kind of create, I don’t want to say double lessons, but at the same time just be ready to say, ‘I have to teach this lesson online next week, could I do that and how quickly can I do that?’”

The school district will continue conversations about this plan at the June 8th school board meeting, and again at a work session later in June. Crawford looks to have this plan completed and sent out to the public by June 26th.