HANCOCK COUNTY — Mt. Vernon schools has delayed the start of the academic year by more than two weeks, citing the need for more time to adapt to the changes required by the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. The county’s three other public school districts, however, remain on track to begin on their anticipated start dates starting next week.
Mt. Vernon 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. The county’s other districts remain on track to open as scheduled: Greenfield-Central on July 30 and Eastern Hancock and Southern Hancock on Aug. 3.
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.
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Parker said the decision aligns with one of the contingencies the school corporation developed for the 2020-21 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 July 17, according to the Indiana State Department of Health. The last time it came close to adding that many in a 24-hour period was on July 2, which saw an addition of 10. The county’s daily case peak was on April 27, when it added 22. On Tuesday, July 21, the state reported nine new cases of infection in Hancock County, and the rolling seven-day average has increased to seven new cases a day, up from four a week ago.
The Mt. Vernon school district is in northwestern Hancock County, near Madison, Hamilton and Marion counties. Madison County added 54 COVID-19 cases to its total on July 18, representing the third-highest figure added in a 24-hour period since the pandemic began. Hamilton County added 54 cases on July 18, also its third-highest day. Marion County’s cases are trending upward as well.
Other school districts near Mt. Vernon have recently made similar decisions. Hamilton Southeastern Schools will start the school year off with virtual instruction on Aug. 6, which will continue at least through Labor Day. The school district is taking a phased approach to its reopening, much like the state of Indiana has been doing.
Indianapolis Public Schools, which is offering in-person and remote learning for the upcoming school year, moved its start date to Aug. 17 as well. Lawrence Township, which is also offering in-person and e-learning, pushed its first day of class to Aug. 13.
“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… 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.”
Maria Bond, director of community relations for Mt. Vernon, said 13% of students have chosen to start the school year virtually as of July 20. The deadline for parents and students to decide is Aug. 3.
An announcement distributed to Mt. Vernon families Monday shared trigger points the school corporation will use to determine when schools will partially or fully close. If 20% or more of students and staff are absent due to illness, all students will be required to participate from home virtually. If 15% are absent, a hybrid in-person/virtual learning system will be implemented.
“At the 15% mark, half of the in-person students will participate on campus on Monday and Tuesday and the other half will participate on campus on Thursday and Friday,” according to the release. “This will allow for two in-person days per week and a day (Wednesday) for deep cleaning between the cohorts.”
The release also recognized that schools may have multiple staff illnesses or quarantines to the point where supervising students in person may not be possible. Should that happen, the affected school will close for a short period of time.
“During times of closure for in-person students, we will have all staff report to work to support our students virtually as needed,” the release states.
The release also states that the school corporation will provide more details by Aug. 11 related to numbers of students in each classroom and which classrooms are able to maintain social distancing when all students are seated.
Remaining school districts
The county’s other districts, meanwhile, are staying with current plans.
Southern Hancock officials, who held an online live Q-and-A session Tuesday for parents, said they’re moving forward with plans to start school as scheduled Monday, Aug. 3.
Community relations director Wes Anderson said when leaders learned some school districts in the state were pushing back the opening of schools, they evaluated their plans again and determined they have solid protocols in place. The best thing to do, they decided, is to move forward and head back to school.
“We feel good about our plan,” Anderson said. “This has been our plan since the beginning of June, and we told our parents we planned to go on Aug. 3 and gave them the option to come back or go virtual.”
To date, 336 students have signed up for the virtual learning route, while 3,409 students will be attending classes in person, giving the district an enrollment total thus far of 3,745.
Southern Hancock officials said they are doing all they can to make sure parents and educators are up to date on the information surrounding the return to school. On Tuesday, they addressed parent questions on topics ranging from riding the bus to what happens if a COVID-19 outbreak occurs at school.
The district plans on holding one more live Q-and-A session next week at a time to be determined. The session will be posted on the district’s Facebook account and will be sent out in weekly correspondence with parents.
Greenfield-Central schools are also moving forward with plans to start in-person classes and a virtual option on July 30, Superintendent Harold Olin said Tuesday.
“We’re going to continue to monitor, obviously, the numbers that are posted,” he said of daily local COVID-19 data, adding the situation is fluid. “…Given the information that we have today, we feel like it’s the right thing to do.”
About 13% of G-C students have chosen to start off the school year virtually, he added.
Eastern Hancock remains on track for its Aug. 3 in-person and virtual start date as well, Superintendent David Pfaff said, while also indicating that the district’s situation remains fluid.
“That’s the plan, barring anything happening that we’re not aware of yet,” he said.
Eastern Hancock’s registration opened Tuesday, and its schools had already fielded some calls from parents interested in exploring the virtual option, Pfaff added.
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COVID-19 Data
Hancock County
- 519 cases
- 36 deaths
- 7,995 tests
- 9 new cases on July 20
- 0 new deaths
- 95 new tests between July 1 and 19
Indiana
- 57,916 cases
- 2,652 deaths
- 644,805 tests
- 734 new cases on July 20
- 20 new deaths between July 6 and 20
- 9,196 tests between April 15 and July 20
Source: Indiana State Department of Health as of 11:59 p.m. Monday, July 20
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Greenfield-Central: Thursday, July 30
Eastern Hancock: Monday, Aug. 3
Southern Hancock: Monday, Aug. 3
Mt. Vernon: Monday, Aug. 17
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