Washington County Schools are updating their schedules after the Thanksgiving break to move classes into a hybrid situation that combines in-person and online learning.
With Gov. Eric Holcomb taking away Stage 5 of the Back on Track program and not replacing it with anything else, local health departments have stepped up with guidelines as strict or in some cases more strict that the state had in place. (Read https://wp.me/p1MXZ2-b1z)
Locally, Washington County Health Department Officer Dr. Jeff Morgan enacted a plan two weeks ago that junior and high school students would move to online learning while K-5 would continue in-person as long as the county was in the “orange” status.
So far in November, Washington County has had 393 cases of Covid-19, as of Friday, Nov. 25 – coming close to totaling the entire amount from March thru October of 427 total cases.
There have been 826 total cases of Covid-19 in Washington County since March.
A total of 5,394 Hoosiers are confirmed to have died from COVID-19, an increase of 66 from the previous day. Another 269 probable deaths have been reported based on clinical diagnoses in patients for whom no positive test is on record. Deaths are reported based on when data are received by the state and occurred over multiple days.
To date, 2,174,751 unique individuals have been tested in Indiana, up from 2,162,110 on Friday. A total of 4,183,401 tests, including repeat tests for unique individuals, have been reported to the state Department of Health since Feb. 26.
East Washington, Salem, and West Washington will all have students in Grades K-5 attending in-person classes daily beginning Monday, November 30.
Students in Grades 6-12 will participate in a hybrid schedule.
SALEM SCHOOLS
Salem’s plan includes in-person schooling for middle and high school students with last names A-J on Monday and Tuesday followed by virtual classes Wednesday thru Friday.
Those students with last names K-Z will be in virtual classes Monday – Wednesday and in-person on Thursday and Friday.
Transportation will run regular routes to pick up students in Grades K-5 daily while picking up students in Grades 6-12 on their assigned in-person days.
“We will continue this schedule for the next three weeks,” said Salem Schools Superintendent Jon Acton. “Unless Washington County turns to a “Red” county (based on the Indiana State Department of Healthy’s map of spread released each Wednesday) at which time we could move to remote learning.”
Action said the ability of Salem Schools to remain in-person includes maintaining appropriate staffing numbers to safely operate and the schools being designated an emergency location if needed by the ISDH and the Washington County Health Department.
Meals will be available for Salem students for both hybrid students grade 6-12 and Online Lions.
If parents would like to pick up meals next week fill out the attached form online at https://forms.gle/akgP2fDeVnCdDJNQ7
Students in person Monday and Tuesday may pick up meals on Wednesday, Dec 2.
Students in person Thursday and Friday may pick up meals on Monday, Nov 30.
Online Lions may pick up meals either/or both days.
For more information, contact the school at 812.883.4437
EAST WASHINGTON
Based on the guidelines set by the Washington County Health Department East Washington schools are able to operate in a hybrid model.
Superintendent Dennis Stockdale said the school will use this model as long as “we are labeled orange and we can safely staff each building. If at any point the map released each Wednesday shows Washington County in the red, or we have a large number of staff quarantines, we will have to immediately shift to a fully virtual format utilizing our transitional learning.”
Pre-K thru 4th Grade will attend in-person classes.
Grades 6, 8, 11 and 12 will be in-person Monday and Wednesday, while they will attend virtually Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
Grades 5, 7, 9 and 10 will be in-person Tuesday and Thursday and will be virtual Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
The hybrid model that East Washington will use beginning Monday, November 30 is shown below:
For more information, call the school at 812-967-3926.
WEST WASHINGTON
West Washington Pre-K thru Grade 6 will be in-person every day beginning Monday, Nov. 30.
Junior and Senior high school students in Grades 7-12 will be virtual.
Upper classes teachers and administrators will be developing a potential hybrid schedule for future weeks that Washington County may be “Orange”.
According to West Washington School Nutrition Director Joni Muchler, there are no plans to offer meals to students at home.
“Unfortunately, we have not had a good response with the meals we have offered so far for our Virtual Wednesday learning days, participation has been extremely low,” said Muchler. ” So, we are not doing meal pickups. We do have some of our higher need students we are bringing in so they are getting meals and extra help. Other than that we are just making sure anyone who contacts us will be taken care of. Also, we have 2 different groups within the school who are sending home “food baskets” for those in need. So, hopefully, for anyone who has a need, it will be met.”
For more information, contact the schools at 812.755.4872
