COLUMBUS, Ind. — Despite Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp.’s continuing efforts to release COVID-19 case counts and rates of mask compliance and physical distancing, some parents are still questioning just how concerning the data must be before school officials move to eLearning.
Prior to Monday night’s BCSC board meeting, a few concerned parents and community members gathered outside the BCSC administration building as part of a “Show Your Work” protest, which called for greater transparency regarding the school corporation’s COVID-19 metrics.
“We have no idea when schools will go virtual,” said middle school teacher Dakota Hudelson, who said he was participating in the protest as a private citizen. “We don’t know what the line is. Is there a line? … I’m left wondering if one staff member, if a TA gets incredibly sick and goes tens of thousands of dollars into medical debt, is that a line? Is it at that point that we’ll say ‘Maybe it’s too much’? If a teacher dies, would that be acceptable? One deaths, two deaths, where is the line?”
School board candidate and BCSC parent Jennifer Corsi also attended the protest. Corsi is running for the District 5 seat currently held by Pat Bryant, who is seeking re-election. Corsi is also the president of the Clifty Creek Elementary School Parent-Teacher Organization and on the school board for Learning Tree Preschool.
Corsi said she was attending the protest, in part, to “get more perspective from others in the community” and listen to their concerns.
Some of the protest participants, including Corsi, also attended the school board meeting, with organizer and BCSC parent Tracy Kiser speaking on behalf of the group during the time for public comment.
“Your decisions affect the health and the lives of the entire BCSC community,” she said. “Never before have we so desperately needed to know that we can trust you. Transparency builds that trust — and secrecy destroys it.”
For more on the school board meeting, see Wednesday’s Republic.
