CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Marshalltown High School instructor Erica Malloy educates some socially-distanced and masked students in this September photo. Due to rising COVID-19 rates in Marshall County, the school district is moving forward with remote learning beginning Thursday.

The Marshalltown Community School District plans to implement full remote learning for students beginning Thursday and extending to Nov. 24, according to a Tuesday email sent to parents by Superintendent Theron Schutte.

Students in grades Pre-K through sixth will transition to remote learning on Thursday. Students in the middle and high schools will begin the transition on Monday. The later date for the older grades will give staff time to meet with students twice this week before the switch.

There will be no extracurricular activities — either practices or performances of any kind. The remote learning will extend to the beginning of Thanksgiving break, which starts Nov. 25 and lasts through Nov. 27. There will not be school on Nov. 30, as it is a scheduled professional development day. So, in-person instruction is expected to return on Dec. 1.

The district submitted a waiver to the Iowa Department of Education requesting approval for the move. A response is anticipated with the next 24 to 48 hours. The request is based on Marshall County having reached the “Substantial Uncontrolled” threshold of the COVID-19 pandemic. That means there is more than a 20 percent infection rate during the last two weeks. There are also health care resource concerns and MCSD is concerned about the ability to properly staff classrooms due to employee absences.

While the student infection rate has remained low, the same cannot be said for the MCSD staff rate. Since the district is also faced with a reduction of substitutes, there is a significant challenge to provide an education for the students.

Schutte wrote MCSD building administrators will meet with staff as soon as possible to review expectations of delivering the remote education. Students and parents will also be aware of the expectations.