Carley Lanich| South Bend Tribune
South Bend area schools are rolling out plans this month to increase in-person instructional time for students as local, state and federal guidance for teaching in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic changes.
Administrators say it’s best for students’ academic and social well-being to attend school in person. But some teachers, who are not among the groups prioritized for the COVID vaccine in Indiana, say it’s too risky to return to classrooms full time.
South Bend Community School Corp. elementary students will soon transition from two to four days a week of in-person learning, while middle and high school students continue on a hybrid learning path.
The Penn-Harris-Madison School Corp., which transitioned its elementary students to five days of in-person learning in the fall, is now looking to phase its middle and high school students from hybrid learning to a full week of in-person instruction after spring break.
Both districts approved changes in school board meetings Monday, just days after the Indiana State Department of Health announced it would endorse new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance allowing for shorter quarantine periods after exposure or potential exposure to the virus.
School City of Mishawaka, like P-H-M, has been teaching elementary students in person since the fall. Its middle and high school students currently attend on a hybrid schedule.
At Mishawaka High School, freshmen and sophom*ore students attend together on Mondays and Tuesday and juniors and seniors go three days in person on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
The Mishawaka school board meets today and is expected to hear an update on the district’s “Roadmap to Reopening” plan. Meg Sauer, a spokeswoman for the district, said she couldn’t share details of the update prior to the board’s Wednesday night meeting.
However, Kory LaBonne, director of school services and assessment, said last week the district’s grouping of grade levels in its secondary hybrid learning plan positions Mishawaka schools well to transition in more in-person instruction time when the district is ready to do so.
School officials in South Bend said they are following the updated guidance and national research in increasing in-person class time for the district’s youngest students.
South Bend will pilot its in-person return at Darden, Lincoln and Swanson elementaries next week before bringing the change districtwide. The school corporation will continue with its districtwide e-learning Wednesdays.
“Current data, including neighboring districts, national trends and information received from the Indiana Health Department, as well as the St. Joe Health Department, demonstrates the ability to bring back elementary students without increasing COVID-19 cases in our community at large scale, and we also realize that our students need in-person learning in order for their academic and social emotional needs to be met,” South Bend Chief Academic Officer Brandon White said Monday.
While St. Joseph County Deputy Health Officer Dr. Mark Fox said he was contacted only the afternoon before the meeting and was unable to provide input on elementary reentry before the South Bend school board’s approval, he said the district’s plan mirrors what has been instituted in other nearby districts at the elementary level.
“The elementary doesn’t give me as much heartburn as some of the other grade levels,” Fox said. “Classroom density is down because of the number of families that have elected to go not in-person.”
South Bend, like most other area schools, plans to continue offering a remote-only option for students not yet wanting to return in person. Having not yet surveyed parents, White could not say Monday night how many students will opt into remote learning once the district phases elementary into four days of in person.
That detail gave pause to Jeanette McCullough, the only South Bend school board member to vote against increasing elementary students’ time in person.
“It keeps going through my mind that we have to be mindful of the teachers and students who have precondition illnesses,” McCullough said. “Not knowing the numbers of kids who are going to be in the class, that just keeps going through my mind, worrying about the pandemic.”
In South Bend schools, where district COVID-19 rates have only recently returned to levels similar to those reported at the start of the school year, educators questioned whether now is the time to increase density.
The school corporation reported nine new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed across the district last week compared to 11 cases reported during the district’s first full week of school in August when students were entirely in virtual learning. The school corporation reported its highest number of cases at 56 districtwide in the second week of November shortly before middle and high school students transitioned to virtual learning in the midst of growing community spread around the holidays.
“Most of our members are very frightened, anxious and upset.” NEA-South Bend Teachers’ Union President Linda Lucy said in a statement provided to the South Bend school board. “Increasing student in-person attendance with teachers who are not vaccinated is disrespectful and increases our teachers’ risk of contracting this deadly virus or taking it home to a loved one.”
‘Best possible learning environment’
Penn-Harris-Madison Superintendent Jerry Thacker presented a staggered return to middle and high school in-person learning, approved by Fox, Monday night.
The district will first transition sixth-graders and high school freshmen into four days of in-person learning and add additional classes of students each week, following a phase-in approach taken by the school corporation’s elementary re-entry last September.
“We are always working toward a full return to school when we can be confident of its safety because we know it’s the best possible learning environment for our students,” Thacker said.
The district expects to maintain its Monday virtual learning days until spring break.
Lisa Langfeldt, president of the P-H-M School Corp. teachers’ union, said one of the biggest concerns in her district is creating distance between students as more return to school, especially in congregate settings like lunch where students often spend extended time without masks.
She said P-H-M’s phased-in reentry has helped educators adjust to a growing number of students and make changes as necessary while incrementally increasing the school population.
“We had time in our buildings to figure what was working and what wasn’t working,” Langfeldt said. “If the cafeteria’s not working, we had a week to work out the kinks there.”
South Bend area Catholic schools have taken different approaches to in-person learning. Marian High School has been open for in-person learning for a majority of the school year, while Saint Joseph High School expects to transition its students from hybrid learning to in-person learning at five days a week with periodic remote “flex days” beginning Tuesday.
“Being in person, the social and emotional wellbeing outweighed the risk of COVID-19,” said Joseph Brettnacher, superintendent of schools for the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. “Transmission has not occurred very often in our schools. Most of it has been contracted outside of school.”
The increasing lean across Michiana toward in-person learning comes as the Biden administration rolls out its plan for education in the pandemic and encourages schools to put their next round of CARES funds toward school reopening.
The CDC is expected to bring additional guidance this week, which could address reopening schools while a majority of educators wait their turn to be vaccinated.
Though Indiana has not yet communicated when its teachers and school staff will be included in the state’s vaccination rollout, several district administrations are taking steps to stand by teachers in their calls to be identified alongside other essential worker groups.
Thacker read a letter to Gov. Eric Holcomb on Monday night urging the governor to accelerate the timeline for educators’ vaccination.
The School City of Mishawaka has partnered with multiple local clinics to have its staff placed on standby lists for vaccine available following appointments missed by those currently eligible for vaccination.
Fox said while he supports early vaccination for teachers, he’s seen little evidence of students transmitting the virus to teachers, suggesting that schools can safely move forward in reopening if maintaining mitigation strategies.
For schools to continue along in their reopening plans, community members must do their part, Fox said, noting that St. Joseph County is likely on Wednesday to enter its second consecutive week of “yellow” status in the Indiana State Department of Health’s county metrics map for community spread.
“For schools to open in the safest way possible, it requires that parents buy into it,” Fox said. “I can control the behavior of kids in my house somewhat, but when we’re bringing the whole cohort back together, everyone needs to be conducting themselves in the safest way as possible outside of school as well.”
