No matter how much tension has surrounded the reopening of schools during the coronavirus pandemic, most state and local officials have found a way to arrive at some sort of plan by the first day of classes. But not in Des Moines, where school began this week with local officials openly defying Iowa’s governor and a judge’s order by teaching remotely. The decision puts the district’s funding and administrators’ jobs at risk, and leaves students locked out of athletics and their parents uncertain whether online classes will even count. “It kind of feels like science versus politics,” the Des Moines schools superintendent, Thomas Ahart, said. “The last thing I want to do is make this political.

Source: New York Times September 10, 2020 21:29 UTC