(INDIANAPOLIS) – Indiana schools won’t reopen this school year.
Schools had already gone to e-learning through May 1 because of the coronavirus pandemic. Now they’ll stay out. State superintendent Jennifer McCormick says schools need to turn in a plan within the next two weeks for how they plan to deliver either another 20 days of class time this year, or a total of 160. That’s 20 fewer days than the usual requirement — Governor Holcomb waived the 180-day requirement by executive order two weeks ago.
Most school districts already use online learning and will complete the semester, but McCormick says the department is working on solutions for about 40 districts who don’t have that capability. Some districts have been doing pencil-and-paper-based projects, but McCormick says that’s raised its own concerns, with some parents worrying about the virus being transmitted on the paper.
And even in districts which already have e-learning, McCormick says some families may not have the bandwidth to support students doing classwork at home at the same time parents are trying to do their jobs from home. She says the Department of Education has heard from some charitable organizations offering help.
McCormick says seniors who are taking enough courses this semester to graduate will pass
automatically and get their diploma. But she says it’ll be up to local schools to decide how to handle
graduation ceremonies, and says it’ll probably be something nontraditional.
