By LAURA HAMMACK, guest columnist

Just as the last nine weeks of school have been unlike anything we have ever experienced before, summer “vacation” promises the very same. Brown County Schools, like every other school district across the nation, is currently immersed in planning for what school will look like next year.

As you can imagine, this is challenging work. Pandemic guidance for school districts is issued by two primary agencies: the office of the governor and the Indiana State Department of Health. These agencies work collaboratively with the Indiana State Board of Education and the Indiana Department of Education who communicate necessary procedures within executive orders and policy requirements.

These agencies have been working tirelessly to prepare guidance for a safe, efficient and effective return to school. While we are anxious to receive this guidance so we can develop and communicate action plans with our school community, we appreciate all that is involved in getting it right. It takes time to do hard things.

In order to be prepared for return-to-school guidance from our governing agencies, Brown County schools are actively engaged in developing strategies for a variety of potential scenarios. We convened a return-to-school task force with individuals representing all disciplines and departments of the district. We identified three working groups that are subsets of the task force focused on instruction, health and wellness/safety/maintenance and operations.

The task force is engaged in strategy development for four return-to-school scenarios: 1) all students in physical buildings, 2) some students in physical buildings and some attending virtually, 3) all students attending virtually, and 4) intermittent closures (if a positive case was identified in a school building when school is in session).

Some of the strategies that are being considered from an operational and health/safety perspective include reviewing current physical spaces to potentially reconfigure layouts of classrooms and gathering places to be responsive to any social distancing requirements. Additionally, we are developing daily cleaning protocols that not only indicate requirements for our custodial team, but also include expectations for hand washing and other personal responsibilities for cleanliness from students and staff.

Instructional strategies that are being considered include reviewing fourth nine-week academic completion to determine what was taught and what learning happened during the remote learning experience. To do that, we need to determine the assessment tools that will be used to identify student gaps and target individualized student needs. We are engaging in comprehensive review of remote learning and traditional learning as we work to offer both platforms simultaneously to our families. It is very important to us to provide both options to our families so we can meet every family where they are in comfort levels related to being in the physical setting.

This summer proves to be an extremely important season for our school community. Our working groups are meeting weekly to ensure that we are prepared for a safe and supported return to school. As we wait for guidance on what that return will look like, be confident in understanding that we are working extensively to ensure that every scenario is addressed and strategically analyzed for efficacy.

To that end, there is no question that this is a version of strategic planning that we have never done before. However, we promise to our school community that with every strategy, the best interest of the students stands as the foundation.

Laura Hammack is superintendent of Brown County schools. She can be reached at 812-988-6606 or lhammack@browncounty schools.com.