Local school officials are scrambling to figure out what the rest of the school year will look like now that students won’t be returning to their classrooms.
All six Johnson County public school districts had already shifted to virtual learning environments before Thursday’s announcement that schools must remain closed through the end of the school year.
Greenwood, Indian Creek, Clark-Pleasant and Franklin schools will continue the eLearning schedules they had in place before the in-person learning restrictions were extended.
Due to a 20-day waiver granted to all schools in the state, schools are required to reach just 160 days of in-person and eLearning instruction combined. If they can’t reach that number, they are required to hold 20 days of virtual learning between now and the end of the school year, Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Jennifer McCormick said on Thursday.
The move is an extension of the state’s earlier decision to close schools through May 1 due to the COVID-19 pandemic which, as of Friday, had killed more than 100 Hoosiers, including six Johnson County residents, local health officials said.
The executive order also extends teacher licenses expiring between March 1 and Aug. 31 to Sept. 1.
For Franklin Community Schools, eLearning will continue for students on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, while Tuesdays and Thursdays will be waiver days, meaning teachers can take that time to prepare virtual lessons. The school year will continue until about May 21, although Superintendent David Clendening said he is unsure when exactly the last day of school will be, he said.
“I thought it was a wise decision by both Gov. (Eric) Holcomb and Dr. McCormick, who showed exceptional leadership during this time. It was prudent to tell us now what May looks like so we can plan for the rest of the school year,” Clendening said.
Greenwood Community Schools will stick to its schedule of eLearning, which mirrors that of Franklin schools. Greenwood has students on track to wrap up school on May 19, with the last week consisting of eLearning on Monday and Tuesday, Superintendent Kent DeKoninck said.
Indian Creek Schools will also follow the model of eLearning on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, while Clark-Pleasant Community Schools will use waiver days on Mondays, but have eLearning Tuesdays through Fridays. Indian Creek plans to wrap up school on May 13, while Clark-Pleasant will finish on May 15, school officials said.
Both teachers and students have adjusted well to eLearning since it started in March, said Patrick Spray, superintendent of Clark-Pleasant schools.
“This challenged our staff to think differently and make adjustments with that kind of instructional delivery,” Spray said. “They’ve done a really nice job.”
Both Center Grove and Edinburgh schools will evaluate their May schedules at a later date, according to both school districts’ superintendents.
For food service, each school district will continue to prepare meals that families of students can collect at drive-thru distribution sites, the schedules and locations of which are listed on the schools’ websites. The exception is Center Grove schools, which has to have its food service completed through the IMPACT Center of Mt. Pleasant Christian Church, as the district does not have a high enough percentage of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals to warrant opening a distribution site at one of its schools, Superintendent Rich Arkanoff said.
Due to massive job loss coinciding with the pandemic, families might be recently unemployed and students may need food even though they didn’t qualify for free or reduced-price meals, Arkanoff said.
“If we waited for people to apply for free and reduced meals it could take weeks, and we know there are situations that instantly change,” he said. “For the IMPACT Center, we’ll know the dates and times next week.”
An email with information about that will be sent to families, he said.
Thursday’s decision to extend virtual learning to the end of the year will have an impact on all students, but especially on seniors.
Under the state order, seniors who were already on track to graduate high school will be granted their diplomas, as the school year was already about 75% complete, McCormick said Thursday. Exams that were canceled but were needed to graduate will also be waived.
Individual schools will determine if students pass their classes in kindergarten through 11th grade, based on their performance during the entire school year, including the remaining eLearning days.
School districts can still penalize seniors for not completing work or participating in eLearning, but that will be a local decision, not a state one. Students who take Advanced Placement exams and dual credit courses will still need to take those exams and fulfill those course requirements to get college credit, Arkanoff said.
In the coming weeks and into May, high schools are expected to come up with creative plans to recognize their senior classes, whether that be postponing graduation ceremonies or holding them virtually. The challenge, if those ceremonies don’t happen in-person, will be a lack of closure for many students wrapping up their high school careers without a proper goodbye, he said.
“I won’t lie. I was looking forward to handing (my son) a diploma. It’s a heart breaker for me and so many other parents. We definitely want to see what we can do and that’s gonna really help a lot of people with closure,” Arkanoff said.
“Teachers that hug kids when they leave the classroom on the last day; they’re not gonna get to do that. A lot of our teachers will be devastated. Yearbook signings, kids are gonna want to do those. A lot of traditions (are gone). There’s no prom. My daughter’s got a dress and we’ll have some pictures, but a year with no prom is a really sad thing.”
