All Brown County Schools students were to return to school in person on the “green” plan on Monday, but the plan is changing for junior high and high school students.
Superintendent Laura Hammack sent this message to parents this afternoon:
“I am calling to share a change in the educational plan for students in grades 7-12. While our metrics evidence that a 100% return to school in person is the appropriate decision, we have had an unfortunate number of complications with student schedules who prefer to return to school in a 100% remote format.
“The 100% remote format has always been an option in our plans. Unfortunately, since we are mid-trimester, students in grades 7-12 are not able to transition to remote learning without devastating schedule conflicts.
“Additionally, we have received troubling reports about gatherings and travel that took place over the Thanksgiving holiday that have the potential to impact the spread of the virus.
“Because of these concerns, our plans have changed. We will now deploy the Yellow Level of our plan for students in grades 7-12. This means that students will rotate between 50% of the student population attending in-person and 50% attending remotely.
“Students with last names beginning with the letter A-K will attend in one cohort and students with last names beginning with the letter L-Z will attend in the other cohort. Students will alternate with the A-K cohort attending on one day and the L-Z cohort attending on the next day and this pattern will repeat.
“In order to sort students between these two options, all students in grades 7-12 will attend school remotely on Monday, November 30th. This learning day will look like an e-Learning Day that is used when we have inclement weather.
“The hybrid schedule will start on Tuesday, December 1. A calendar for attendance for students in Grades 7-12 will be distributed via Parent Square on Monday, November 30.
“Students in grades Preschool through Grade 6 will still attend school on the Green Level of the plan. This means that they will attend school all day, every day.
“Students who attend the C4 program in Bartholomew County will still attend this program every day, in person. Students who attend C4 are permitted to ride the bus in the morning and report to school daily. Additionally, students who participate in the Eagle Manufacturing program at BCHS are permitted to attend this program every day, in person. Students who attend Eagle Manufacturing are permitted to ride the bus in the morning and report to school daily.
“All plans for extracurricular programs and athletic teams will remain the same. Students in grades 7-12 will begin practices on Monday, November 30.
“We will work with our food service team to make meal kits available for days when students in grades 7-12 are not in session. We will post more information about this program soon.
“This plan will be in place until December 17, the last scheduled day before the Winter Break. We will re-evaluate plans based on the information we have at that time for January.”
The district posted new return-to-school documents last week at browncountyschools.com, including a daily tracker of the percentage of students and staff affected by COVID-19 in each school building. See those documents here.
