During a virtual meeting Tuesday, members of the Crawfordsville school board were brought up to speed on a number of issues surrounding the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and its effects on the end of the school year.
Though postponements of major events such as prom and graduation have seemingly stalled the end of the typical school year, many services have continued thanks to staff, volunteers and emergency grants, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Rex Ryker said.
Food Services
A total of $105,000 was awarded to the county’s three school districts by the Montgomery County Community Foundation, allowing food services to continue for students in need.
“We’re still doing five days a week and we’ll continue through June,” Ryker said. “We cannot commend or appreciate enough our drivers and food service workers and how much they’re doing.”
Buses have been delivering meals at normal bus stops on a staggered time schedule. Those living in apartment complexes or consolidated neighborhoods can expect meal delivery at their normal bus stop locations: Imperial Estates, 8:45-9 a.m.; Waterford and Cloverdale Heights, 9-915 a.m.; Shady Knoll,
9:30-9:45 a.m.; and out-of-district students, 10-11 a.m.
Item Pickup
One of the largest areas of concern for students is item pickup — personal possessions still inside student lockers that have not been reclaimed due to social distancing guidelines.
“We are ready to begin doing that,” Ryker said. “Right now the plan would be that next Tuesday we would have a morning and late afternoon window at all of our buildings.”
Items in lockers have been organized in such a way to maximize efficiency when parents or students come to retrieve them, Ryker said, and a drive-through plan has been set.
“We looked at CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) recommendations and we’ve had conversations with the Montgomery County Health Department, and we determined that we will minimize the risk of the spread of the virus by doing it through exchanges through the cars.”
All staff members will wear masks and any parent or student receiving items for pickup are requested to wear masks, as well.
Item pickup will begin Tuesday. Elementary and preschool students will be able to pick up items Tuesday through Wednesday, while middle school and high school students will have until Thursday.
Tuesday morning, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., seniors will be able to pick up caps and gowns for a commencement now scheduled for Aug.1. Families will be notified of other time slots by the school. They will also be posted on the district’s social media platforms.
Summer School
The official school year ending, many students seeking help or credit recovery are looking ahead to the summer term.
Several factor have to be considered before making a decision on whether summer school will take place this year, Ryker said.
“We are looking at the potential to still do some primary grade level summer school deal with Jumpstart, but we’re not certain yet,” he said. “We’re going to discuss it with the Teachers Association and see where everybody is. The educator side in you wants to provide something, but then the operational side thinks, ‘What are we going to have to do with desks and masks and gloves and buses?’
“That makes me very hesitant.”
Some of the typical requirements for hosting summer school, such as a minimum of 15 students per class, have been waived or altered by the Indiana Department of Education, he added, as the state struggles to strike a balance between education and safety.
“We were at a point in our administrative discussions where we were done; we weren’t going to do summer school,” Ryker said. “But then by the end of it we were back to figuring out how we were going to do it.”
More updates ahead of next month’s school board meeting will be posted on the district’s social media platforms.
