While initial return to learn plans were due this week to the Iowa Department of Education, the Mid-Prairie school district is still deciding the best course of action for classes this fall. Superintendent Mark Schneider submitted the initial return to learn plan this week, which consisted of a list of assurances the school district will follow for the 2020-2021 school year. Some assurances include having the proper equipment for continued learning online if schools are again shut down due to COVID-19, ways of implementing hybrid or fully online learning, and managing the social and emotional health of students and staff in the case of another shutdown. Schneider says with eight weeks left until school begins on August 24th, Mid-Prairie’s plan is difficult to create due to the uncertainty of the changing health situation, “I understand the value of letting people know early about what’s going to happen so that they can make proper preparations, but I do kind of look at this as like a weather decision. Let’s say on Monday the weather service predicts a big storm is going to roll through the area on Friday. I could go ahead and cancel school on Monday for Friday, but that wouldn’t be very prudent of me because the weather could change. I really don’t know what the weather is going to be on Friday. While I know parents and the public would like to be notified as early as possible, I still want to make sure, or be reasonably sure, of what the actual weather’s going to be like on Friday.” Schneider says administration and staff members will continue to meet weekly to finalize their plan before the start of the school year. The Mid-Prairie school board will reveal more details about their plan at their August 10 meeting.