Indianapolis Public Schools is pushing to keep kids home until at least October.
The district announced Wednesday it will recommend a virtual start to the school year, which is set to begin Aug. 17. The school board will have to vote on the recommendation at a meeting scheduled for Thursday evening.
IPS was originally scheduled to start the academic year next week, but delayed it by two weeks because of the increase in coronavirus cases in Marion County. Cases have been on the rise for the last couple of weeks.
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In response, the Marion County Health Department last week told all schools that they could not resume in-person instruction until Aug. 5 at the earliest.
In a news released posted to the district’s website, it said safety was a top priority.
“From the beginning, IPS Superintendent Aleesia Johnson has said the district would remain flexible,” the release said, "and respond to the changing data with an emphasis on the health and safety of students and staff as our top priority."
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After the state's schools closed in March because of the pandemic, IPS was one of a few districts that wasn't able to make a full transition to online instruction because it didn't have enough digital devices for all of its students. Only high school students were provided with laptops and continued their courses online. Younger students were provided with paper learning packets.
IPS invested in digital devices over the summer and will be providing them to all students as it prepares to start the year remotely. Students in kindergarten through second grade will be provided with an iPad and those in third grade and above will receive a Chromebook. It also has mobile hotspots available for families without home internet access.
'Learning hubs' available
The district said it will also have "learning hubs" available for select students.
The hubs will be "spaces where some students who may struggle with remote instruction can go each day to access their digital classwork and receive help, as well as those who receive physical and mental interventions that they can’t otherwise get virtually." More details are expected at a later date, but spaces in the hubs will be limited to "adhere to COVID-19 health and safety precautions."
The idea is similar to one that Gov. Eric Holcomb suggested in a news conference last week. Holcomb said that decisions about reopening schools would be left to local communities, but he urged schools to consider the impact on working families if school buildings remain closed and suggested they open spaces for students to do their virtual learning.
"Some schools have decided to begin the academic year 100% virtual," Holcomb said, "and I respect that decision. And I hope it's only temporary.
"But I want school districts to be very mindful of what that decision means holistically for the family. Some families will not have child care, or another location for their child to go to, to have a good learning environment."
Majority of families want options
Like many aspects of the coronavirus pandemic, the closure of school buildings has the greatest potential to upend the lives of low-income and working families who may not have the option to stay home with their children or be able to afford child care.
In a recent survey of IPS families, the vast majority said they wanted a choice when it came to sending their children back to school. Stand for Children Indiana and EmpowerED Families surveyed more than 100 families whose children attend IPS.
Most of those families identified as Black or Latino and nearly three-quarters of all respondents said they wanted IPS to open for in-person instruction and have the choice to send their children back or keep them home and use the virtual instruction that IPS was also planning to provide.
Charisse McGill was among those surveyed and said she wanted a choice. She knows that her son Jacson, a rising freshman at Crispus Attucks High School, learns better with in-person instruction. She was disappointed in the home learning they received from IPS in the spring and she's worried about him falling behind as he enters high school.
"I feel like it’s a very important grade level for him to be going into," she said. "Virtual I don’t feel like is best for somebody that’s starting in an important grade."
McGill said she had made the decision to send Jacson back to school because it would be better for him academically but did feel uneasy about it. Now that IPS has made the decision for her, she said the family will just have to figure out how to make it work. She's not sure yet if she'll be able to work from home, too, but someone will be home with Jacson during the day.
"I have to roll with it," she said.
McGill said she wishes she'd been able to make the choice, but understands that IPS is doing so for safety reasons.
Child care would be a challenge
Other survey respondents, in open-ended questions, said child care would be a challenge for them if schools did not physically reopen.
Many families do not have the option to stay home with their kids, or work from home. Even those who do said working from home and managing their children's eLearning is difficult.
As a school district, IPS is the largest in the state and has among the highest percentages of students from low-income families. It also serves families in parts of the city that have had some of the highest rates of coronavirus cases.
In a call with reporters Wednesday afternoon, Johnson said the district will be looking for a 14-day positivity rate of 5% or less as a trigger to bring kids back into school buildings. Currently, the state's seven-day rate has been around 7%.
"The goal is still to get our kids back in person as we can," she said, "but we have to do it in a way that feels safe."
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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IPS asks board to keep schools closed until October, start year virtually - IndyStar
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