Waterloo, Cedar Falls, W-SR, Oelwein Districts Closing Schools
The list of northeast Iowa school districts being shuttered continues to grow, due to the coronavirus pandemic. Waterloo, Cedar Falls, Waverly-Shell Rock and Oelwein have now decided to follow Gov. Kim Reynolds’ recommendation to close all buildings and cancel classes for at least the next four weeks.
All schools in the Waterloo and Cedar Falls District will be closed through Sunday, April 12. The shutdown of buildings means the community will not be able to use or rent school-owned facilities. All activities and athletics are also canceled for the next four weeks.
Neither district had classes scheduled this week, due to spring break. District officials on Monday sent a text messaged to families of students informing them that school won't resume until April 13 at the earliest.
According to a press release, the Cedar Falls District’s emergency response team will be meeting regularly to address specific items. School officials plan to continue sharing additional information, including expectations for staff, food programs, educational support, etc.
Later today, education leaders in Waterloo planned to release more information about weekly instructional support for online and hard copy resources for students.
Beginning Monday, March 23, optional curbside pick-up of free meals will be available Monday through Friday for Waterloo students while district schools are closed. More information on how to sign up for the meals will be forthcoming, district officials said.
Waverly-Shell Rock School officials also decided to follow the governor's recommendation. According to Facebook post, the district is closing all buildings and canceling activities and practices until further notice. Waverly-Shell Rock is also on spring break this week.
In Oelwein, all pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade education has been suspended until at least April 6. All buildings will be open Wednesday from 7:30 AM until NOON for families to retrieve personal items, medication and student technology. All school activities and events in Oelwein are suspended until April 10th.
Starting Wednesday, the Little Husky Child Care will also close until further notice.
The Oelwein District is providing all students the opportunity to take home their classroom Macbook or iPad. School libraries will be open for students to check out books on Wednesday.
The 2020 Prom will be rescheduled for May 2nd. The Oelwein High School Pops concert will also be rescheduled.
According to Oelwein education officials, the district is finalizing plans to offer free lunch and breakfast to anyone under 18 while the schools are closed.