(Radio Iowa) — Two central Iowa school boards are resisting the governor’s order that districts begin the school year with in-person instruction. The Waukee School Board and the district’s superintendent issued a written statement last (Monday) night. It included what was described as “a reminder” to Governor Reynolds and other state officials that state law gives local school officials the power to establish rules for the governance of their own districts. Waukee Superintendent Brad Buck served as former Republican Governor Terry Branstad’s state education director for nearly two years.

Earlier this summer, the Urbandale School District had permission to continue operating its year-round elementary school online, but state officials notified the district students would have to return to the classroom this Friday. Urbandale’s school board voted last (Monday) night to continue online classes at the elementary school until at least August 25th. The board will meet again on August 10th to discuss its “Return to Learn” plans for all students in the Urbandale district.

Governor Kim Reynolds announced last week state education officials will only grant waivers from in-person instruction to school districts in communities where at least 15 percent of residents have tested positive for Covid-19 AND at least 10 percent of students are absent. The statement from Waukee school officials said they will not follow that guidance, but instead will follow other “sources of expertise which indicate more reasonable” standards that should trigger temporary suspension of in-person classes and a shift to distance learning.

(Radio Iowa) – Students at the three state schools are starting to move back into the dorms for the beginning of the Fall semester. There are usually no tests given in the first weeks — but Iowa State University COVID-19 health coordinator Kristen Obbink says that has changed this year. “Our students moving into our residence halls and campus apartments will first be getting a COVID-19 test at Lied (Lead) Recreation Center,” Obbink says. She says the testing is being conducted by Iowa State’s public health and command teams.

University of Northern Iowa students have also started moving in and University of Iowa students will start at the end of the week. Those schools won’t be testing students. I-S-U Student Health Center director Erin Baldwin says they felt it was necessary to know where they stand. “Testing is just one element of our strategy, so we felt like since we have a large group of students who are moving into our residence halls it was important to have that testing as we introduce our students to congregate housing,” Baldwin says, “realizing that it is a point in time with testing and it is just one part of the strategy.”

The housing will be limited to two roommates, and they will alternate the move-in times. Associate Director of Campus Life, Pete Englin, says they have a plan for dealing with positive tests. “The first roommate moves in gets their test results — they’re negative. The second roommate comes in gets test results — and it might be positive. The positive person would go to isolation and then the other roommate would go to quarantine, ” according to Englin. “And then we’ve secured a moving team that actually moves whatever the student wants to take with them to either isolation or quarantine. And then when they are cleared to return to their permanent assignment — the moving team would help them move too.”

Englin says they are keeping things very flexible for parents and students who change their minds. He says anyone can cancel their room contract through August 17th without any penalty to give them the choice to do what they want to do. Health Center Director Baldwin says they plan to release testing numbers — much like the Iowa Department of Public Health has on the positive tests. But she says they do not have a threshold number for positive tests. “We do not have any specific drop points where we are going to say ‘yep we are done,'” Baldwin says.

Baldwin says they do have plans in place to deal with what they see in the numbers. “With our main goal of trying to intervene and mitigate those things early — so that we can have the biggest impact on public health — with the lowest amount of impact on our overall university operations,” according to Baldwin. “We’ve really tried to provide a really flexible plan that can be tailored to the situation at hand as we continue to monitor those things over the course of the semester.”

Englin says many of the college kids have been doing the things that college kids do and the measures they are taking at I-S-U will actually be safer for them.

A traffic stop a little before 2-p.m. Monday, in Stanton, resulted in the arrest of a man from southeastern Iowa. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports 23-year old Dean Robert Whaley, Jr. from Russell, was taken into custody for Driving While Barred, and Fraudulent use of license plates. His bond was set at $650.

A traffic stop at around 11-p.m. Monday in Red Oak, resulted in a woman arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance. 26-year old Jade Dakota Erynn Bacon, of Red Oak, was taken into custody in the 1900 block of N. Broadway Street and transported to the Montgomery County Jail, where her bond was set at $1,000.