Educators and families in Johnson County are experiencing the longest unplanned school closure in modern American history, one that started on March 16 for most local schools and will end no sooner than May 1.
Most local school leaders are waiting to finalize end-of-the-year plans, but recognize that the COVID-19 pandemic that’s swept the state could have a tremendous impact on traditional end-of-the-year activities, such as prom and graduation.
Although Greenwood and Edinburgh schools have been on spring break since that time, the other four county school districts—Center Grove, Clark-Pleasant, Franklin and Indian Creek schools—employed a mix of virtual learning through internet applications such as Google Classroom, and waiver days granted by the state. Waiver days give students days off from learning, and teachers additional time to prepare their online lessons.
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Gov. Eric Holcomb on March 19 announced an extension to the 20 waiver days he initially granted schools, according to a news release from the Indiana Department of Education. If the 20 waiver days are not enough, the Indiana Department of Education will work with individual school districts to determine the total number of additional waiver days they need, the news release said.
School officials at Center Grove, Franklin and Greenwood schools said they would wait for Holcomb’s guidance on whether in-person schooling will be feasible come May.
As of Wednesday, there were nearly 500 confirmed cases of the virus in the state. In Johnson County, 24 people have tested positive and three have died, according to the latest numbers from the Indiana State Department of Health.
Center Grove Community Schools kicked off spring break this week, but used waiver days from March 16 to March 18 to prepare for eLearning that Thursday and Friday, Superintendent Rich Arkanoff said. If students end up returning to school buildings May 1, it will be for just a few weeks.
During the two weeks after spring break ends on April 6, Center Grove schools will use waiver days on Mondays and Tuesdays, and resort to eLearning the other three days. Also on April 6, school leaders will work on a schedule for April 23 and beyond, Arkanoff said.
“We’ve got a world of things going on,” he said. “Our administrative team is doing daily check-ins. All of our different meetings are still happening. We’re using teleconferencing on all those things.”
Last week, Holcomb announced the cancellation of several state-wide exams to ease the burden on students and teachers during virtual learning. Among those exams were the IREAD, a reading examination for third graders, and the ILEARN, which tested third through eighth graders on English language arts, math and science.
The cancellation of the exams this year, especially the ILEARN, which most students across the county and state lacked proficiency in, is a benefit to both students and teachers, said Kent DeKoninck, Greenwood Community Schools superintendent.
“That frees up some time teachers would have dedicated to (exam preparation),” DeKoninck said. “Moving forward, we’re going to learn as we go, but the general gist to teachers is to keep things simple, basic. It could be review time for certain items, and then we’ll have online resources they’ll be able to utilize.”
Senior events such as prom and graduation will likely get the axe if the COVID-19 pandemic prolongs school closures. Greenwood and Franklin schools have already postponed senior proms, which were originally set to take place in April, superintendents from both school districts said.
“Prom was supposed to happen in April; that’s not happening in April,” DeKoninck said. “It’s one of those items to be determined, whether or not that can happen. Graduation, as of right now, we’re planning for that because it’s in the latter part of May. But that’s something we may have to reconsider (too) as time goes on.”
Students at Franklin Community Schools will no longer be visiting Kuji, Japan in September. A rescheduled date has not been set yet. Earlier this month, Superintendent David Clendening said the decision about whether to have students go on the trip to Franklin’s sister city hinged on the International Olympic Committee’s decision to postpone the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which it did on Monday.
While seniors may be frustrated about the postponement and potential cancellations of events, there is a brighter future ahead, Clendening said.
“I understand the pain if prom doesn’t come to fruition, or commencement, but there’s a bright future out there,” Clendening said. “We’ll get through this. They’ll find a cure, a vaccine, a remedy that allows us to move forward.”
