After being forced to push back their start dates by the coronavirus pandemic and local health officials, Wednesday was the first day back to school for several of Marion County's public school districts. Several more will start in the coming days and weeks.
Here are five takeaways from the first day at Marion County schools:
Not all Marion County students are retuning to school yet.
Wednesday was the first day that schools in Marion County were allowed to open for in-person instruction, per an order from the Marion County Health Department. Three of the county’s 11 public school districts did so — Franklin Township, Perry Township and Speedway schools.
Two more — Decatur and Warren townships — start their school years in person Thursday. Wayne and Lawrence townships start next week. Beech Grove will also bring students back next week, after starting the year virtually on July 30.
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Three districts haven’t set dates, yet, for when they’ll bring students back. Washington Township started the year virtually on July 30. Pike Township starts Aug. 11 and will continue with remote instruction through at least Labor Day. Indianapolis Public Schools delayed the start of its academic year to Aug. 17 and will be virtual until at least October.
Just because a student is enrolled in a district that’s reopened for in-person instruction doesn’t mean they’re in a school building. Most districts around the state are offering both in-person and online instruction and area schools are seeing roughly 10% to 20% of families choose the online option.
Expect to see a case of COVID-19 in a Marion County school.
Dr. Kris Box, the state’s health commissioner, said on Wednesday that she wasn’t surprised to see cases of COVID-19 in schools within the first few days. Cases will crop up in schools, she said, but it’s not cause for panic. As long as schools implement practices like social distancing, hand washing and student cohorting, they can open safely and prevent outbreaks.
All of Marion County’s public school districts have published reopening plans, detailing how they’ll implement safety practices and handle a case of COVID-19, should it occur. In most cases, that means contacting the county health department and handling each on a “case-by-case basis.”
Middle and high schools will probably continue in “hybrid” fashion for a while.
Last week, the Marion County Health Department released new rules for how schools can operate during the pandemic. One of those says that middle and high schools with 400 or more students can only operate at half capacity while the county’s positivity rate is at 6% or higher.
Currently, the rate is at 9.3%, according to data released by the Indiana State Department of Health, and hasn’t been below 6% in a month. The number of confirmed daily cases has tripled since that time, so it may be a while before schools can welcome back all of their students at once.
Uncertainty is about the only certainty.
It’s unclear how long the county will operate at its current status, where middle and high schools can only have hybrid schedules. If the county’s positivity rate drops, they can reopen fully. It is gets too high, schools will have to suspend in-person instruction entirely.
And that’s not even taking into account the situation at individual schools. Dozens of students around the state are already quarantining after being exposed to the coronavirus at school and one school had to temporarily close, because of exposure among staff members, after just two days.
It’s possible that individuals see pods, classrooms or schools will close sometime this year.
As Taylor Fenoglio put it after her daughter’s first day of kindergarten in Franklin Township: “We are carefully optimistic about this year.”
The first day of school will be like any other, kind of.
There are some things most first days of school have in common: car lines at drop-off will be long, buses will be late, parents will cry on their kid’s first day of kindergarten and there will be a general air of excitement for most teachers and students.
Then there are the new things about this year: teachers walking little ones to their buses while wearing plastic face shields, everyone in masks, boxed lunches, desks spaced apart. The list goes on and on.
School is back in session and while it looks and feels a little like any other year, it definitely isn’t.
Call IndyStar education reporter Arika Herron at 317-201-5620 or email her at Arika.Herron@indystar.com. Follow her on Twitter: @ArikaHerron.
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5 takeaways from Marion County's first day of school - IndyStar
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