Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. board members have approved a school reopening plan in a split vote, revising the plan to mandate that students and staff will wear masks when school begins on Aug. 6.
The plan will be guided by ongoing metrics gathered about COVID-19 infections which calculate whether the community is in a low to substantial spread, with guidelines changing based on the positive case rate, hospitalizations and other factors.
The vote was 5-2 at the board’s Monday meeting, with board members James Persinger and Julie Bilz voting against the reopening plan.
Persinger and Bilz expressed concerns about whether or not BCSC and its teachers would have enough time to plan and prepare for in-person classes. Persinger also mentioned COVID-19 cases going up in Bartholomew County and around the state.
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Prior to the vote, Superintendent Jim Roberts gave a detailed presentation about the reopening plan, and the options parents have as the opening day of school approaches.
Roberts emphasized the reopening plan is designed to provide flexibility to move to online learning if the data shows a “substantial spread” of COVID-19 cases.
“This plan, board, is not really about Aug. 6,” he said. “This plan is one that, if approved, it gives us the ability to not start on Thursday, Aug. 6 and do something different based upon information and data provided to us.”
The plan outlines three possible categories of operation for schools: minimal/moderate spread, substantial spread and low/no spread. Roberts said that, as of Monday, the school corporation is in the minimal/moderate spread scenario based on COVID-19 data from the Indiana State Department of Health, Columbus Regional Health and Optum Labs, a state contractor providing virus testing. There may be some lag in the state numbers, Roberts acknowledged of the data.
Roberts said that the school will decide the level of spread based on the following metrics — per capita COVID positive rate (per 100,000), percent positive test rate, trend of per capita COVID positive rate, trend of percent positive test rate, test turnaround time, mask compliance and Bartholomew County hospitalizations. Roberts said school officials may try to post weekly updates of these metrics on its website.
The revised reopening plan includes information on accommodations for at-risk individuals, daily health screenings, cleaning, meal guidelines, social distancing and options for online enrollment. A copy of the plan will be available on BCSCs website at bcscschools.org.
The path to reopening schools is part of a much larger situation, Roberts said.
“If it is important to get back into school, it is a complete community effort to do that,” Roberts said. “It isn’t just about the students and our staff members wearing masks. It is about the people in our community wearing masks. … We are a microcosm of this community. Whatever is in our schools came from somewhere else, whether it is drugs, a weapon, a disease, or whatever else it is, came from the community. And so to keep COVID out, we need help there too. And then to keep it out of our community, we need people to practice safe habits.”
In another surprise announcement during the board meeting, Bartholomew County Health Officer Brian Niedbalski told school board members that city and county officials are working together on a proposal for a county-wide mask mandate, following the school corporation’s lead in requiring masks.
Masks are now required to be worn by all BCSC students and staff except those who are exempt due to health needs. Two cloth face coverings will be provided to all students and staff, Roberts said.
Prior to Roberts’ presentation, 10 community members asked to make comments to the board, including BCSC parents and two substitute teachers.
Those on the side of reopening in person pointed to the mental health needs of children, the difficulty of teaching special needs kids remotely and the important social services provided by schools (such as free and reduced lunches and safety).
Those calling for other options — such as online learning or a hybrid model — listed concerns such as students potentially not taking the virus seriously, recent health trends and safety of older BCSC staff members.
A number of teachers and parents also gathered outside the BCSC building with signs calling for the school corporation to start school with online learning.
Under the reopening plan, parents have different enrollment options that include in-person instruction, a hybrid in which a student may begin the year in eLearning and transfer into in-person attendance, or eLearning at home.
Roberts said it is important that parents register their children by July 24 so that the school corporation can make more specific reopening and social distancing plans, such as deciding on class sizes, based on enrollment numbers. Enrollment options are available at BCSC’s website.
“We’re approaching 800 that have enrolled in our online option at this point,” Roberts said. “I would expect for those numbers to continue to increase and maybe pretty rapidly, as we go through the next few days.”
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The updated school reopening plan will be posted on the school corp.’s website at https://www.bcscschools.org/.
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Parents are asked to enroll their children by July 24 so that Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. can make more detailed opening and social distancing plans.
Enrollment options are available at https://www.bcscschools.org/enrollmentinformation. Roberts said building-specific reopening information will be released in the near future.
The school board said that there will be a strategic planning session on July 31.
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Questions about the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. reopening can be sent to reopening@bcsc.k12.in.us. Questions about virtual learning options can be sent to onlineoptions@bcsc.k12.in.us.
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