Delivering impassioned speeches, pausing periodically to hold back tears, were several at the front lines of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Parents, teachers and nurses demanded students either return to in-person instruction full time or be kept off campus entirely during a regular meeting Thursday of the Crawfordsville School Board.
No matter their separate goals, all rebuked the hybrid attendance model adopted by the district in late July and called for immediate change.
“Our students are not safe. Our teachers are not safe. I cannot keep my students safe at full capacity. I cannot keep myself safe at full capacity,” teacher Emily Race said. “My parents will have Thanksgiving and Christmas alone if I can’t keep distanced — and so will I.”
Others voiced opinions that students must return to in-person instruction full time, saying e-learning methods are not working.
“Our children are not learning. They need to be taught by teachers. They need to be taught in person and they need to be taught every single day,” said Erica Minnette, a nurse and parent of three Crawfordsville students.
Minnette cited figures from the Indiana State Department of Health’s online novel coronavirus dashboard (www.coronavirus.in.gov), saying 0.1 percent of COVID-19 patients in Indiana, who died as a result, were under the age of 20.
“That’s three children,” she said. “This is not an illness that affects our children. They are not getting sick from (COVID-19). They are not being hospitalized. They are not dying. It is not fair to ask them to rearrange their education based on that.”
Students at the secondary level have been attending class every other day during the 2020-21 school year, as per the hybrid model. Elementary level students have been attending in-person classes daily. When home, students on the hybrid schedule have been instructed to use Canvas to remotely log in to class — a platform that has proven difficult to use, parent Sharon Olsen said, and may be hurting students’ grades.
“E-learning is putting our children behind,” Olsen said. “Last semester I also e-learned with my granddaughter. I’m doing that every other day right now. What am I doing: I’m providing WiFi; I’m providing electricity; I’m providing heat, air conditioning, water; and I’m providing a desk and a space for her. Not only that — I’m being a teacher’s aide, I am bring a tutor, I am being a nurse, I am being the principal, I am being the hall monitor, I am being the janitor and I’m being the lunch lady.
“Am I being compensated for my taxes for the school sitting empty,” she asked. “Yet the school system is still getting the same stipend per student — it’s not based on every other day.”
The district reported in August that nearly 100 students and their families had chosen to full-time remote distance learning options, resulting in nearly $5 million lost in state funding. However, that does not apply to hybrid-model students, all of whom are considered full time.
Still, board members and Superintendent Dr. Scott Bowling agreed the best instructional methods are in person, and have expressed intent to bring all students back to campus as soon as possible.
“We’ve worked with the other county schools ... we felt like it’s been important to stay together on these types of decisions,” Bowling said. “Academically, this isn’t working very well. That’s what we’re seeing as educators.”
Talks with Montgomery County Health Department officials resulted in a metric system by which the three county schools use as a threshold before talks of returning to school can continue, the board reported in August.
The boards are looking at positivity rates using a seven-day rolling average, and a 14-day incidence rate per 10,000 residents.
A seven-day positivity rate of 3.8 percent was reported in Montgomery County as of the district’s Aug. 20 meeting, lower than the target of 5 percent.
However, the seven-day rate only tells half the story. Bowling said in August, at the time, the 14-day positivity rate was at 8.4 percent.
As of Sept. 11, however, that rate had fallen to 5.1 percent.
“Our mission is to educate these children fully, and I trust us, and you, and our administration, that we can put together a think-tank and come up with a way despite the health department,” board member Kent Minnette said. “It is unhealthy for the community effect on the children and their families. We have to make a decision. If we need to get all the school boards together ... we have to be prepared to fight to get the kids back in school regardless of the health department’s decision.”
For now, hybrid models of attendance will continue until Crawfordsville, North Montgomery and Southmont can conclude an alternative. Administrators are meeting weekly, Bowling said, with the goal of reuniting students to campus as soon as possible.
