INDIANAPOLIS — In a Zoom call Monday night, Indianapolis Public Schools explained their decision to reopen classrooms this upcoming school year.
IPS Superintendent Aleesia Johnson was joined by Dr. Virginia Caine, director of the Marion County Public Health Department.
“We feel it’s okay for schools to reopen based on the current data that we have today,” Caine said.
The town hall came on the same day Washington Township Schools announced that north-side district will begin the year only with online instruction.
IPS announced its plans last week to teach students both in the classroom and online. Johnson said having an in-person option is best for the families the district serves, at least for now.
“At the end of the day, it is Black and brown communities who face and carry the burden of that decision on either side,” Johnson said.
She acknowledged the decision is difficult: either open school buildings with the risk of coronavirus or keep them closed forcing tough choices for working parents and homes without the internet.
“Our decisions won’t be perfect,” Johnson said. “Certainly not everyone will be in agreement with every decision that we make, that is to be expected.”
Johnson said a survey of more than 4,000 parents found one-third preferred classroom learning, one-third preferred virtual and one-third were unsure.
Caine pointed out that IPS was among the first in Indiana to close its doors at the beginning of the pandemic, but said science and data shows that things are much safer now than they were months ago, lending to her support of the IPS decision.
She referenced several data points, including the number of cases, which peaked in April at more than 300 a week. That tally is now down to around 60 a week. The rate of positive tests, which was 45 percent, is down to 7 percent. She also noted there are usually zero or a single death each day attributed to the virus.
“We have done honestly a phenomenal job of having our cases reduced since the peak,” Caine said.
Johnson responded Monday to questions about social distancing in the classroom and on buses, the likely process if a student or staff tests positive for COVID-19, and the amount of personal protective equipment.
“I feel good about where we are right now in terms of PPE, masks. We’ve ordered lots and lots of hand sanitizer,” Johnson said.
But, like everything else, everything is subject to change even in the next three weeks before IPS is scheduled to begin on Aug. 3.
“If data points us in a direction that says we need to do something different than what we’re currently doing or planning to do, we will not hesitate to respond to that,” Johnson said.
Johnson asked parents for several things — including to daily checks before school of your child’s symptoms and keeping contact information up to date — so if someone tests positive, the school district can let parents know.
The district will be in touch with the health department for each positive test, and the department will help determine who needs to quarantine.
