Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. officials are already in strategy sessions to determine what the opening of schools might look like for the 2020-2021 school year.
Students have nine weeks of summer ahead, with classes scheduled to begin Aug. 6.
The school system needs to prepare for the possibility that some families may not be ready to send their children back to school, said Superintendent Jim Roberts during a strategic planning session livestreamed from the administrative offices.
“E-learning is a piece that, we project, will have to continue,” he said. “As we look at next year, we believe that there will be some kind of model that will be necessary that includes eLearning.”
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Because of this, returning students (especially those still receiving critical services over the summer) were allowed to keep their school-issued electronic devices over the summer. The school system did collect internet hotspots it had issued.
“However, in going through that process, we realized that there were very specific students with specific needs that would benefit from having those at home,” Roberts said. “So we’ve been working with those students and providers, the technology department, to make sure that those stay there.”
During the strategic planning session, BCSC’s school board discussed tentative guidelines and plans for reopening. BCSC’s guiding principles for reopening in the fall are to “return as many students as possible to school on Aug. 6,” maintain “health and safety of students and staff,” give students “quality instruction, regardless of context,” provide “equity of access to quality instruction for all students” and ensure that families and students “have choices and pathways that work best for their learning needs.”
As it sets up its reopening framework, BCSC plans to comply with CDC guidelines, which include staying home when appropriate, hand hygiene, respiratory etiquette, cloth face coverings, signs and messages, cleaning and disinfection, adequate supplies and limiting shared objects.
The school corporation also plans to “support coping and resilience among employees and children; train all staff in safety actions; teach and reinforce hand washing, covering coughs and sneezes among staff and students; teach and reinforce use of face coverings among all staff and encourage in students over the age of 2; and, if feasible, conduct daily health checks for staff and students.”
BCSC also tentatively plans to:
“Identify an isolation room to separate anyone who exhibits COVID-19 symptoms”
“Implement flexible sick leave policies”
“Support coping and resilience among employees and children”
“Limit number of students per classroom”
“Limit large group gatherings”
“Limit student movement (static groups) throughout the day”
“Protect and support staff who are at higher risk”
The school board also discussed potential plans to create a hotline “for staff to call with questions related to physical, emotional, social and occupational health.”
Roberts said that he plans to issue a public statement on reopening sometime mid-to-late next week, as well as the tentative processes and principles that have been drafted. He added that BCSC may also attach a survey to that statement in order to gauge opinions on the tentative reopening ideas.
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For more information about Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. visit: bcscschools.org
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For additional information about state guidelines for opening Indiana schools, see Page A4.
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