Most Vigo Countians want to see the full number of young people attending school in-person.
That once-routine situation would amount to a signal that the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic is over.
But the worst public health crisis in a century is not over, yet.
So, the Vigo County School Corp.‘s decision to expand in-person learning for middle and high school students to four days per week — Tuesdays through Fridays — seems proportional and wise, for now. Students will continue remote learning on Mondays, and the VCSC will also conduct contact tracing that day. The revised plan begins Tuesday, after the School Board approved the change Monday night.
Vigo middle and high schools have been operating with e-learning on Mondays, followed by students attending in-person in split groups on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Wednesdays and Fridays. Given the spike in COVID-19 cases locally and statewide during this difficult winter, that VCSC plan made sense. It helped limit spread of the virus, protecting teachers, staff and students.
Hospitalizations from the disease have declined in the county in recent weeks, and remained lower. The numbers show the county is ready to increase students’ in-person attendance, explained Karen Goeller, the VCSC deputy superintendent. A pediatrician and the heads of the county’s emergency management and health departments endorsed the move.
Along with that support, County Health Commissioner Dr. Darren Brucken added an important point. Added in-person learning works “if things hold,” Brucken said Monday. Health officials “will continue to watch the numbers,” he said. “We continue to watch the trends.”
Such caution and vigilance must drive decisions on the extent of in-person learning in the schools, until COVID-19 is under control.
VCSC administrators see evidence from surrounding districts that community spread primarily drives virus cases, rather than through school settings. Still, VCSC communications director Bill Riley said, “We’re stepping into this very cautiously.” The case numbers will be watched closely, and schools could return to remote learning if infections and quarantines leave insufficient staffing availability.
That caveat should remain an option.
Teachers and staff remain vulnerable, given the close proximity of in-person class settings. Ideally, the schools’ strict adherence to face masking, social distancing and hygiene protocols will stave off infections. But the local schools have maintained the low case numbers while attendance has been on the alternating A/B schedule, four days a week. Next week, class sizes will return to near normal.
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb and his coronavirus policy team should consider adding teachers and school staff to the state’s priority list for COVID-19 vaccinations. The Vigo County School Board unanimously passed a resolution Monday calling for Holcomb to do so. But in his weekly COVID-19 news conference on Wednesday, the governor and State Health Commissioner Kris Box stood by their age-based plan for vaccination eligibility.
State leaders say they want the schools to reopen, in-person. Vigo County is taking a step toward that goal. Without vaccinated teachers, expanded face-to-face learning must happen cautiously, with an option to go remote at the ready — just as the VCSC is doing.
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