HANCOCK COUNTY — Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation has delayed the start of its academic year by more than two weeks, citing more time needed to adapt to the changes required by the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.
Schools will now start Monday, Aug. 17, 13 weekdays later than the originally planned start date of Wednesday, July 29.
The change affects both students who plan to attend school in person and those who have chosen to attend virtually for the first semester.
Jack Parker, Mt. Vernon superintendent, made the announcement at Monday night’s school board meeting, several hours after sharing the news with school staff and families.
Parker said the decision aligns with one of the contingencies the school corporation developed for the 2020-2021 school year back in May.
That contingency also calls for shortening fall break by a week and extending the school year into June a few days.
“We felt that was necessary for many reasons,” Parker said of bumping back the first day of school. “Mostly with the recent flare-up that we have seen in our community and certainly in many areas of the country, as well as making sure we have all of our I’s dotted and Ts crossed; we wanted to be prepared for the best start to the school year possible.”
Hancock County added 14 COVID-19 cases to its total on Saturday, July 18. The last time it came close to adding that many in a 24-hour period was on July 3, which saw an addition of 12.
Mt. Vernon’s decision follows several Indianapolis school districts’ decisions to delay or start all virtual due to the state’s recent rise in coronavirus cases.
“We have always been of the mindset that we wanted to be able to start in person,” Parker said. “And we don’t know what this pandemic is going to continue to hold for us and how it’s going to unfold.”
Parker said many students have chosen to participate virtually for the first semester, but that a strong majority wants to attend in person.
“And we want that opportunity to develop relationships with kids, get to know them, get some routines established, some understanding of how some of the work is going to be delivered and we feel that this just a little bit of extra time will allow us to do an even better job of preparing for this school year,” he said.
As of Monday night, Hancock County’s three other school corporations had yet to publicly announce any new changes to the start of their academic years.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
