Jim Roberts
Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. is planning to begin the new school year as it ended the last — with very little in the way of COVID-19 restrictions.
The school board approved a 2022-23 reopening plan on Monday. According to Superintendent Jim Roberts, the school corporation is required to have a plan in order to continue receiving Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds.
“We plan to return to in-person, full-day instruction with no COVID-19 restrictions for the upcoming school year,” said Roberts. “…We’re basically starting next year as we ended the last year. So masks and specific social distancing, all those kind of very specific things that we put in place are not necessarily a part of the plan.”
“However, we still stress the handwashing pieces, and we have all the sanitation areas available for washing hands. And all of the things that we put in place over a couple of years’ period of time to be more safe than we were before will continue as a normal part, now, of our processes and procedures.”
When asked if the school corporation will still offer an eLearning option through Columbus Virtual Pathway, Roberts said this will continue as a new pathway for students. The school corporation has also requested and received a waiver for CVP to not yet be considered a school. The waiver is for a year and was sought so that BCSC can look at its expectations for long-term enrollment.
Additionally, Roberts said that the school officials also have safety on their minds as first day of school nears.
“Yesterday was kind of an interesting day from a reflection standpoint — in a bad way, really, in that the investigative report on the Uvalde tragedy came out,” he said. “And I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to see that, but there’s some stuff that we’ll learn from, but a lot of issues, challenges, problems.”
The May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, resulted in the deaths of 19 children and two teachers. Since that time, there has been a great deal of public outcry and scrutiny over the details of what occurred. While much of the criticism has centered on law enforcement officials’ response to the incident, a recent report from the Texas House of Representatives’ investigative committee also delved into the school’s security and maintenance issues.
According to the Associated Press, the report stated that Robb Elementary had an ongoing problem with maintaining locks and doors, as well as a “culture of noncompliance” regarding locked doors that turned out to be deadly.
The door the shooter used to enter the building wasn’t locked as it should have been, and the door to one of the classrooms he entered was probably not locked, the report said. The teacher, principal, another school employee and many fourth grade students knew that the classroom’s lock wasn’t working properly, but no work order was ever placed to fix it.
At a local level, Roberts said that the school corporation periodically uses the summer to review its facilities, processes and protocols through the lens of student safety.
Additionally, the school board will discuss the topic during a strategic planning session on July 29 at 9 a.m.
“Safety is a priority, and it’s necessary to achieve the key purpose of our existence, which is to have kids learn,” said Roberts.
