INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) — Students and parents should be ready for drastic changes when schools reopen at the end of summer.
Parents and students will endure yet another new normal.
The state has a long list of recommended precautions for schools trying to protect kids and employees from COVID-19.
There are 38 pages of recommendations that will likely change the way children get to and from school, how many days they are actually in the classrooms and what happens in classrooms, cafeterias, and hallways.
Social distancing, keeping kids safely away from each other, is the biggest challenge facing schools. A classroom typically holding 28 students may have only 14 this year.
How do schools reduce class sizes by 50 percent?
"It means only half the students will come in," answered Pike Township Schools Superintendent Dr. Flora Reichanadter. "The other half would work remotely."
She said Pike is working on a hybrid plan.
Students would alternate between learning in class and learning remotely from home. According to Reichanadter, some parents are not returning their children to school and want them learning at home every day.
Transportation is another issue. Buses needed to carry scores of students, under social distancing rules, can carry only a handful.
"We can fit about a dozen students on a bus," Reichanadter said. She is counting on some parents choosing to drive their children to school.
The state recommends students and employees wear masks, that schools close playgrounds and cafeterias serve meals in the classrooms instead and stagger start times to reduce the numbers of students crowded in hallways.
"It is not going to be a traditional school year because we are dealing with something we've never dealt with before as a country," Reichanadter said.
The state is leaving decisions to local schools. Efforts to protect students and teachers from COVID-19 in one community may not work or be necessary in another.