Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:00 a.m. CDT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Dozens of U.S. meat-processing plants have been forced to close temporarily as the industry struggles to contain the spread of the coronavirus among employees who often stand side-by-side while cutting and packaging beef, pork and poultry. Giant slaughterhouses that employ thousands of people are designed to have workers close together, making it difficult to adhere to social-distancing guidelines that advise people should stay 6 feet apart. Even as companies take steps to protect workers, industry experts say it’s nearly impossible to eliminate all risk of catching the virus and they note safety measures have been adopted unevenly.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Tyson Foods is suspending operations indefinitely at a large Iowa pork processing plant that was blamed for fueling a coronavirus outbreak in the community. The company warned Wednesday that its closing of the plant in Waterloo would be a blow to hog farmers and potentially disrupt the nation’s pork supply. Tyson kept the plant open in recent days over the objections of the mayor and other local officials. The plant employs 2,800 workers and can process about 19,500 hogs per day, almost 4% of the nation’s pork processing capacity. Several other meatpacking plants have temporarily closed due to coronavirus outbreaks.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Department of Public Health is offering coronavirus testing for all employees of long-term care facilities in Tama County because of a rising number of cases in the region. Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Wednesday following a surge of cases at the National Beef plant in Tama, where 177 workers tested positive for COVID-19. The eastern Iowa plant resumed production Monday after being closed for two weeks due to the virus spread among its workers. Reynolds has frequently noted that a large percentage of those who have died from the virus live in long-term care facilities. Also Wednesday, officials said there were 107 new positive coronavirus cases and seven additional deaths, bringing the total to 90 people

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Sioux City Police Chief Rex Mueller is among nine people within the northwestern Iowa city’s police department to test positive for COVID-19. The Sioux City Journal reports that the department revealed on Tuesday the number of police staffers infected with the novel coronavirus. The department first announced on April 9 that several police department employees had tested positive for the virus, but did not give details. Besides the police chief, a news release from the department said infected staffers include a police captain, two lieutenants, a sergeant, an officer and three civilians. The release says most have had mild symptoms, and some have been cleared to return to work.

The Atlantic School Board, Wednesday, discussed the District’s COVID-19 response and plan for continuous learning, as well as graduation. Superintendent Steve Barber recapped the orders given by Governor Reynolds when she cancelled the school year in her press conference last Friday. That includes a “Return to Learn” plan submitted to the State Dept. of Education by no later than July 1st. The template for doing so should be available from the State in a couple of weeks.

He said one of the biggest hurdles faced by the Atlantic School District, is grading while school is closed. The guideline the district is following says “All work completed prior to the closure March 13th, 2020, can be graded. Assignments that were not completed prior to the closure cannot be accepted and graded until school reopens. Therefore,” he said, “if we get a chance to open August 23rd you can open it up and go all the way back to the third quarter to do some grading kinds of things.”

Since the Atlantic District is in a Voluntary Continuous Learning program, it is considered closed, and can’t take assignments that prior to closure and use that as part of the grading system. Barber said they looked at high school is being the big hurdle because there is more at stake requirements-wise. High School Administrators and Building Leadership Team agreed that, because students didn’t have an opportunity perform at the high level during the fourth quarter due to circumstances beyond their control, the district should provide them with the grades that will provide them with the best chance at their level of GPA. If they had chances to improve but they met a minimum requirement, the district could use a hybrid situation of passing them, therefore getting credit for completing the course but not have that go against their GPA.

The other three buildings in the district would grade the work completed and provide parents feedback at the end of the school year. As far as graduation is concerned, Superintendent Barber said they’re looking at multiple options, including: A traditional ceremony; Explore an alternative date for the celebration; A virtual ceremony, including a “Drive-in” Ceremony, such as the Red Oak School District is planning; the other choice is a a combination of those options.

In other business, the Atlantic School Board approved the resignation of Jordan Newberg as 2nd Grade Teacher, Girls Soccer and MS Wrestling Coach. Newberg has accepted a position as K-8 Assistant Principal for the Shenandoah School District. They also approved the disposal (by scrapping) two old, diesel school buses. Two new buses were replaced thanks to a grant from VW. And, the Board approved two change orders for moving 1,000 cubic yards of dirt into the Trojan Bowl for tile work needed to eliminate an underground drainage problem at one end of the Bowl. The total price tag amounts to nearly $17,000.

The Atlantic School Board Wednesday evening received a report from Iowa Association of School Boards (IASB) Survey/Research Consultant Tony VanderZyl, with regard to an IASB-commissioned survey of parents/students, Community and  and administration that rated several district areas of performance and weaknesses.

The Atlantic School Board conducted their meeting electronically, April 22nd.

VanderZyl said three summary questions highlighted: areas in need of improvement, what the district does well, and what needs to change. In the survey, 29% of parents & the community said preparing students for college, career and life was important. The survey showed the district excels in technology, communication, extra curricular activities, and the hiring and retention of quality staff members.

It also shows there is needs to be a big change in improvement as far as Anti-Bullying efforts are concerned, and Teaching. Students also said they were engaged enough in classroom activities. As far as whether or not the Atlantic School District has strong leadership. staff respondents to the survey rated leadership as “Low.” VanderZyl said it’s not clear whether they were referring to leadership by the school board, administration or teacher leadership.

The survey featured 19 agree/disagree questions, one of which dealt with board staff responses to “Our district standards clear and rigorous.” Both School Board and Staff disagreed with that statement, which VanderZyl says is concerning and perplexing, because “Your district standards ARE the Iowa Core Standards They have to be by law.” He said fact that there is disagreement either means they don’t know the Iowa Core Standards are your standards, or they’re not being properly implemented in the district. He said there’s any easy fix: Make sure every Board member and staff person knows the Iowa Standards are the district standards, and that should be posted on every teacher’s board, and the focus of school improvement goals.

Another yes/no question was “This district does not make excuses about level of student achievement.” Apparently, staff members think the district does make excuses when student achievement is lacking. VanderZyl recommended the District release the results of the survey on its website, and efforts the district will take, moving forward. He commended the Board for having commissioned the survey, adding that “It’s risky, it’s uncomfortable to open yourself up to this kind of feedback…you should be commended, not threatened by it.”

Iowa Law requires school districts to conduct a Needs Assessment Survey (NAS), but current regulations do not stipulate how frequently must be done. The rule of thumb, according to VanderZyl, is every three-to-five years. It’s not clear when the Atlantic School District conducted it’s last NAS.

The Atlantic City Council held a very short electronic meeting Wednesday evening, via Zoom conference call. A Public Hearing was held on a proposal to “Enter into a General Obligation Refunding Loan Agreement and to borrow money thereunder in a principal amount not to exceed $200,000”, for the purpose of paying the cost of current refunding of the outstanding balance of Callable 2012 Bond and the Callable 2013A Bonds. No comments were received from members of the public.

Following the hearing, the Council adopted on a 6-1 vote (with Councilman Casady absent), a Resolution “Taking additional action on Proposal to Enter into a General Obligation Refunding Loan Agreement, Combining Loan Agreements, Providing for the Issuance of $3,685,000 General Obligation Refunding Bonds, Series 2020, and Providing for the Levy of Taxes to Pay the same.”

Over the course of next eight-years, the move is expected to save the City almost $93,194 in interest.

(Radio Iowa) — The Iowa Association of Realtors report shows home sales continued at a good pace in March despite precautions instituted to protect everyone during the pandemic. Scott Wendl is president of the association. “We actually got a pleasant surprise considering the coronavirus. March sales jumped 6.6% over last year — and pending sales jumped 9.3% — which is a big surprise also,” Wendl says.

Wendl says weather was probably the biggest factor in the increase from last year. “Last spring, early spring, late winter was pretty awful. The weather didn’t cooperate once and I know that slowed people down,” he says. “Interest rate also dropped at the beginning of this year — which really motivated a lot of people to either refinance their house or look for a different one.”

Wendl says there were some other good numbers in the report from March. “The average sales price right now is $170,000 compared to $160,000 back in 2019. And the other nice thing, is our average days on the market went form 75 days on the market in 2019 down to 73,” according to Wendl. “And our inventory picked up a little also. I know last year we had less inventory, and that has gone up almost 5.2%.”

Wendl says the did see more of a coronavirus impact on sales in the last half of March, and they may see that continue in April. “It sounds like some people are kind of pausing the search. Some sellers are a little nervous about having people go through their homes,” Wendl explains. “I know a lot of realtors are taking safety precautions to cover their face, wash their hands. And a lot of sellers are making accommodations also, they are leaving doors open, leaving lights on — trying to avoid any physical contact in the house and spreading anything.”

Wendl says the virtual tours, video walk-throughs and modified closings to accommodate the social distancing measures have gone well for those who want to buy and sell homes.

(Radio Iowa) – More than 80-thousand Iowans logged onto Test-Iowa-dot-com (www.testiowa.com) in the past 24 hours and answered questions to assess whether they meet the guidelines for COVID-19 testing. Governor Kim Reynolds unveiled the website yesterday (Tuesday) and she says nearly 250 Iowans are now scheduled to be tested Saturday at a drive-through site in downtown Des Moines.

“And we’re identifying locations now for additional sites in other communities across the state,” Reynolds says. To qualify for a test now, an Iowan must either have symptoms, interacted with someone who’s already tested positive for COVID or been in a virus “hot spot” like New Orleans or Chicago. Reynolds, though, is asking all Iowans to complete the Test-Iowa assessment — particularly Iowans who work in health care, law enforcement, manufacturing or other essential services.

“This again will help us understand the spread and scope of the virus,” the governor says, “and help see if our workforce have symptoms, we can get them the test and get them back on line.” The state is paying a group of private companies based in Utah 26 MILLION dollars to run Test Iowa and she says the companies are responsible for acquiring the supplies to do the testing.