Waterloo School District students in fifth grade and below are returning to remote learning a little earlier than planned, as the district notified parents Saturday night that those pupils would use remote learning Monday and Tuesday instead of attending in-person as originally planned.

“In our elementary schools alone, we are currently at over 180 individuals that are quarantine for being positive with COVID-19 or exposed to someone that is positive,” Waterloo Superintendent Brian Charron wrote in an email to parents. “Over 20 of these positive are (pre-K)-5 employees. We do not have evidence of an outbreak in any of our schools, but the outbreak in our community has consumed our ability to operate our schools effectively.”

Waterloo High School students are already learning remotely, and Waterloo Junior High School students were set to begin remote learning on Monday already. For more on the district’s plans, click here.

“In order for us to provide the option of in-person learning for our students, it requires that we all cooperate in protecting each other from the potential spread of COVID-19,” Charron wrote. “Please be honest when you are completing the daily certification that your children are symptom free and have not been exposed to someone suspected of having COVID-19. We remain hopeful that our community’s positivity rate and our region’s hospitalization rate will soon support a return to in-person learning.”