During a videoconference forum that I listened in on in early July with Iowa K-12 education leaders discussing return-to-learn plans, I asked what types of assistance the business community could consider to help their local school districts. I got an enthusiastic earful of suggestions from two Greater Des Moines teachers and leaders — Mike Beranek, president of the Iowa State Education Association and a third grade teacher in West Des Moines, and Joshua Brown, a Des Moines middle school teacher and current president of the Des Moines Education Association.
Beranek said there are “many opportunities for partners in our communities from the business world to help our schools.” Many districts that received federal funds from the CARES Act this spring have already used up that money, and the ISEA is strongly advocating for an additional round of federal support for districts, he said. As of July 31, Congress was still at a stalemate on a second-round stimulus bill. 
“If a district can afford to buy masks, they may provide them, but I can tell you that schools are running incredibly thin with resources because of not only addressing [those] issues but also inequities with technology,” Beranek said. “So it would be incredibly advantageous for the business community to be strong partners with our schools.” 
Collaborative efforts are going to be crucial, Brown said. “It’s not going to be able to be solved only by the school districts or only by the business community, and we shouldn’t be just waiting for the government to step in and try to help us,” he said. “We would encourage all businesses and any community organizations that they can help support to reach out to your local school districts and figure out ways that we can do this together.” 
Masks are one example where help may be needed, he said. “I know that in our own surveys [for Des Moines] the majority of families said they can provide their own masks, but there are going to be kids who can’t afford or won’t have access to them, and we’re going to need to have someone stock our classrooms and our schools to support our most immediate neediest kids.”