WAUKEE, Iowa - The Waukee School District is indicating it will defy the state's guidance for holding in-person classes.
The district released a statement Monday, saying it disagrees with the COVID-19 levels required for 100 percent online learning, and cited three state laws it says allow it to make decision locally.
"We believe in local control and this circumstance is no different," the statement said. "We further believe decisions regarding the health and safety of our students, staff, and the general community are best made by those most closely associated with the decision-making."
The district said there's expert agreement that the COVID-19 positivity rate to close schools is much lower than what Governor Kim Reynolds along with the Iowa Department of Health (IDPH) and Department of Education (IDOE) are calling for.
The statement says Waukee Schools plans to use the lower numbers to determine when to have online only classes.
The state's guidance requires a county’s COVID-19 positivity rate over 14 days to be more than 15 percent and absenteeism to be at 10 percent before a district can request permission to completely shift to online learning.
The Waukee district says a positivity rate of 5 percent is a more reasonable threshold to consider moving to online only classes.