INDIANAPOLIS — Some Marion County high schools are planning to bring students back to class five days a week, instead of the two days of classroom time they are getting with hybrid learning.
Before the pandemic, Decatur Central High School was crowded with kids.
It will be again in two weeks when the students are back in school all five days a week.
"There is always a challenge," Superintendent Dr. Matt Prusecki said. "You are dealing with teenagers. Masks will be an expectation. Social distancing of three feet will be an expectation. We will have our contact tracing ready if needed."
He went on to say there will be no congregating in hallways or the cafeteria and assigned seating will be everywhere.
Federal guidelines reducing social distancing from 6 to 3 feet are making it possible for schools to end their hybrid schedules and bring students back full time. That will effectively double the number of students in the building.
Classrooms have to be rearranged, meal services and bus routes adjusted and teachers brought on board with the idea of having full classrooms.
Prusecki said he's not received any complaints.
"Teachers want to have their students back in class with them," he explained. "They realize an in-person situation is the best instruction for our kids."
Elementary and middle school students are already back in class five days a week. According to the superintendent, each school has had fewer than five COVID-19 cases. And all the schools are in the green, the lowest risk category.
The superintendent admitted the switch to in-person learning doesn't come without some risk.
"The big thing is to be as proactive as possible," Prusecki said. "And if God forbid, something happens, we put the right practices in place to support our students, our staff and our families."
All of them are struggling to get on with life in the middle of a deadly pandemic.