Des Moines Sun

While the date to reopen schools continue to get pushed back thanks to the coronavirus, Des Moines Public Schools has announced that the school year will be completed via online classes, according to the Des Moines Register.

The schools have had their doors closed since March 13, and Gov. Kim Reynolds issued an order for schools to stay closed until April 30. In light of this, Des Moines Public Schools will wrap up the school year through online courses.

High School seniors have already started their courses, while freshmen, sophomores and juniors will begin on April 20. Grades Pre-k through eighth will then follow suit and begin their digital courses on April 27.

Superintendent Thomas Ahart said in a statement, according to the Des Moines Register, “On any given school day, 40,000 people pass through the doors of public schools in Des Moines. By keeping our school buildings closed, we will mitigate the spread of the coronavirus in the metro and hopefully lessen a second round the virus.”

While the plan is to continue classes online for the rest of the school year, it’s still not clear if students will have to make up for it. For now, it’s been decided that schools won’t have to compensate for the days that were missed in April, as long as they issued a distance learning plan to the Iowa Department of Education by the deadline.

No student will be left behind as computers have already been distributed to students who do not have technology at home. Mediacom has also stepped in to help the district guarantee and ensure that all students have the resources they need for an even playing field. Roughly 7,000 students in the district will need extra assistance, like help with internet access.

The plan is for seniors to be assisted first, and the other grades will be helped in the declining order of academic year.