As state prepares to reopen schools, some Hoosiers consider keeping kids home in the fall

With new state guidance released, schools are making plans to reopen their buildings in the fall – but that doesn’t mean students will be ready to come back to them or that their parents will be ready to send them.

While the growth of coronavirus cases in Indiana has slowed, the state and country are still in the midst of the pandemic that closed schools and has required people to limit their interaction and contact with others as much as possible. That has some families worried about sending their children back into a setting with lots of other kids and where social distancing will be difficult to maintain.

“I’m really, really nervous about that,” said Earl Scott, who has three school-age children. “I really don’t want to have my child go back and return to a classroom setting until there are precautions and measures that keep them at a distance, like we do at home.”

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This past school year, his two sons attended different schools in the Indianapolis Public Schools district and his daughter attended a charter school in the Tindley Accelerated Schools network. Like all students statewide, they’ve been doing at-home learning since mid-March.

Now, he’s considering keeping them home to continue online learning in the fall.

“It’s less risky,” he said.

And he’s not alone.

USA TODAY and Ipsos conducted a national poll of parents with at least one child in grades K-12, finding that 6 in 10 say they would be likely to pursue at-home learning options instead of sending back their children this fall. Nearly a third of parents, 30%, said they are "very likely" to do that.

School districts around the state have been surveying their students’ families to see what percentage will be coming back, and the circumstances under which that answer could change. Some districts have found that nearly all of their families are ready for their students to return to physical classrooms – while others have found significant numbers may not be ready.

Budgets potentially at risk

David Marcotte is the executive director of the Indiana Urban Schools Association, a group of 37 school districts in urban settings. He said some member districts have found as few as 5% of families are not sure about coming back. In other districts, he said, the number was as high as 35%.

“That would be catastrophic, for sure,” Marcotte said.

Catastrophic because, in Indiana, schools are funded based on how many students are enrolled in them. If 35% of a district’s students don’t return, it could see its budget slashed by similar amounts. That can be hard to plan for, since schools may not know whether or not some students are returning until schools starts – at which point teachers, bus drivers and other staff have already been hired.

Many districts around the state have put a hiring freeze in place until they get a better sense of what enrollment will look like come fall. It’s easier to fill needed positions as school approaches than it is to cut staff schools don’t need. The state has rules in place around when districts have to notify teachers about potential layoffs, called “reductions in force.” Any school districts considering a RIF will have to alert teachers by June 30.

Wayne Township Schools is continuing to fill hard-to-staff positions, like special education teachers, but is not filling any other open positions. Superintendent Jeff Butts said he expects to be able to manage any necessary changes in staffing levels that way, without having to layoff any teachers.

Butts said he’s confident most of his students will return in the fall. Kindergarten enrollment numbers are up for last year and he’s still getting applications for out-of-district transfer students. Those numbers were down slightly, he said, but Wayne Township extended the deadline for them and he expects it to be close to last year.

“Those are indicators (that) people are going to be coming back,” he said.

But for those who don’t feel ready or able to safely return to an in-person school setting, Wayne Township will have another option – an online one. The district has offered a virtual high school program since 2011. This coming school year, that will be expanded to all grades.

Virtual programs rolled out

Most school districts are planning to offer an online alternative. Indianapolis Public Schools, the state’s largest district, is still working through its return to school plan but called an online option a “non-negotiable.”

It’s not just large and urban districts that are rolling out virtual programs, either.

Jay School Corporation, serving a little more than 3,000 on the far eastern edge of the state, will offer an online option.

“It’s pretty clear that were going to have to prepare online options for our students,” said Superintendent Jeremy Gulley.

What’s not clear is if schools will get 100% of state funding for those students who choose the online option. The state only funds students who receive more than half of their schooling online at 85% of what full-time brick-and-mortar students are funded.

That rule, educators say, was not made with the current situation in mind. Many of the state’s education groups — representing school boards, superintendents, principals and others — have asked lawmakers to fully fund all students who stay enrolled at their local district, whether online or in person.

“We are going to experience, no question about it, abnormal enrollment and attendance patterns,” said Tim McRoberts, executive director of the Indiana Association of School Principals. “We just are. No one has a good handle on it.”

That could pose a big problem for schools, which are funded based on the enrollment on one day in September. If only 90% of students are back in school buildings at that time, but more return in a month or two months, McRoberts said that schools will struggle to provide for those students.

He expects the same to happen with students who choose an online option. Some may start the school year that way, he said, but return to school buildings at a certain point.

“How do you manage budgets and have appropriate staffing levels” he said, "when we have to make those determinations in the summer?"

Families need options

In Jay County, Gulley said the district is considering several reopening scenarios, but no matter what that ends up looking like there are families who won’t send their children back to into school buildings for the start of the upcoming year. That much was clear, he said, from a recent survey of the district’s families.

Gulley wouldn’t say what percentage of families expressed doubt about returning – he’s waiting to share the results with the district’s school board later this month – but said it was a significant enough minority to raise concerns – both about the impact on the district’s budget and for students with whom teachers want to maintain a connection with, and ensure they have the opportunity to learn.

Schools have to give families a place to go, he said, until they’re ready to come back.

Whether or not families are ready to have their children return to school is a question that will likely change as schools roll out more concrete plans and the start of the year gets closer. Most parents say it’s not about wanting their kids to go back to school – they want them to – but it’s about whether or not it’s safe to do so.

It’s a position that Sam Snideman has been wrestling with since schools closed back in mid-March. It was hard, he said, watching his 6-year-old son, Teddy, have his kindergarten year cut short. They want Teddy back in school, Snideman said, but they’re worried, too.

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“We want our son to be safe,” he said. “At the same time, we want Teddy to continue to grow as a person, to continue to advance academically, and being in a school building, we think, is an important part of that.”

He also expects that he and his wife, who both work fulltime, are going to have to return to office settings soon. While they haven’t made any decisions yet, Snideman says they trust Perry Township Schools – where Teddy is enrolled – to reopen schools safely.

“Every family has to evaluate their own particular risk tolerance,” he said. “Because of the demands of our jobs and our interest in our son’s academic and social progression, it makes us feel, perhaps, a little more comfortable with him going back to school in the fall.”

It will depend on the circumstances of reopening, though, he said.

Teachers have concerns, too

Another concern for schools will be whether or not teachers feel safe coming back to classrooms.

A recent survey of 1,200 members of the Indiana chapter of American Federation of Teachers, found that 89% said they plan to be physically in their classroom should schools reopen in the fall. But only 62% said that schools should reopen in the fall.

And three-quarters of those surveyed said schools should be planning a hybrid approach, of both in-school and online classes. More than 90% said at-risk students should have the option to continue remote learning.

Sally Sloan, president of AFT Indiana, said the responses she saw from teachers put kids and families first.

“I’m so pleased that so many of them are considering how it effects parents,” she said. “Many parents are working full-time. We have to think about that.”

More than a third of the teachers surveyed said they fall into a high-risk category for the novel coronavirus because of their age or underlying health conditions. Many of those teachers would like consider continuing to remote teach, if that’s an option Sloan said.

Some schools are looking at those at-risk teachers to staff virtual programs.

Call IndyStar education reporter Arika Herron at 317-201-5620 or email her at Arika.Herron@indystar.com. Follow her on Twitter: @ArikaHerron.