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GCSC to reopen schools with mask requirement, virtual option
It took three hours of discussion and a split vote, but Greencastle Community Schools approved its plan to reopen school buildings to students on Aug. 5.
With community and staff members voicing strong opinions from multiple points of view, the board ultimately approved the reopening plan proposed by administrators and a committee of 37 GCSC stakeholders.
Among the chief points discussed Wednesday were masks — which will be required when social distancing is not possible — and a virtual learning option open to families not ready to return their kids to the tradition, on-campus environment.
By the narrowest of margins, the plan received board approval, with affirmative votes from Dale Pierce, Mike White and newest board member Ed Wilson, and dissenting votes from Brian Cox and Russell Harvey.
At the heart of the plan are requirements for masks, social distancing and screening, as well as multiple learning options for students, including in-person and virtual.
New Greencastle Superintendent Jeff Gibboney repeatedly pointed out that Greencastle proposal is the strictest as it relates to masks.
“We are the only Putnam County school that is requiring masks,” Gibboney said. “Masks are required in our schools when social distancing isn’t possible.”
Specifically, students and staff will be required to have a mask with them at all times, with situations in which the mask is required — on the bus, during passing periods, in the hallway, in clinics or during classroom activities where social distancing is not an option.
The matter of when social distancing is possible in classrooms was the subject of extensive discussion on the evening, with some questioning if there is any time in a normal classroom that social distancing truly is possible.
White wondered what percentage of classrooms could even handle meeting requirements — at least six feet between people — when the expected number of students are in the room.
“Is this going to become such a moot point that it just doesn’t make sense not to require them to start with?” White asked. “I don’t know the answer to that question and I don’t think anyone does.”
Some community members spoke strongly in favor of extending the mask requirement to all situations.
“The reason that some countries have succeeded in suppressing the outbreak of this virus is because people agreed to protect each other,” GCSC parent and DePauw professor Pedar Foss said. “If we care about each other as members of a community — and I think we do, it’s a small town, it’s a great town — then part of that caring comes with the small inconvenience of being respectful to others by protecting the way that we will most likely transmit the virus to them if we have it. And that is through speech, through aerosols that we emit when we talk, when we breathe. That’s how this thing is getting spread. That’s why we’re having a universal mask policy at DePauw. That’s why Walmart is going to have everybody come in with masks. That’s why Kroger is going to have everybody come in with masks. Why? Because it is the single most important way for us to protect each other. We give up that individual bit of liberty so all of us can have a little life.”
Incoming GHS freshman Isaac Hertenstein, the only current student to speak, also voiced his support for a stringent mask policy, noting that he has grandparents and great-grandparents, including a recipient of a double lung transplant and a 97-year-old, to whom he does not wish to pass the virus.
“I think many of us view being at school and transferring the virus about more than just us,” Hertenstein said. “It’s about a lot more than just us. It’s about our families as well.”
A local businessman, as well as GCSC parent and husband of a teacher, also urged the board to pursue a stronger mask requirement.
Paul Jedele, owner of several area McDonald’s restaurants, said after four months, he has mask discussions with employees on a daily basis, but has gotten them to buy in by establishing a positive culture.
“When the cool kid wears the mask it’s easier to get everyone to wear a mask,” Jedele said. “It’s easier to start stringent and then back off.”
Ultimately, masks seemed to be the sticking point when Cox and Harvey voted against the plan.
Cox asked directly why there wasn’t simply a blanket mask requirement, except for those students and staff members with documented medical reasons not to wear a mask.
However, others spoke in support of the mask requirement as written, notably a pair of teachers.
Noting that there isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” approach, seventh-grade teacher and Greencastle Classroom Teachers Association President Kristien Hamilton said she liked the flexibility built into the plan, as it allows teachers to use their professional judgment as to what is appropriate in certain classroom situations.
“Everyone’s health and safety is the No. 1 concern. We are professionals,” Hamilton said. “We have enough sense to implement that.”
High school alternative education teacher Doug Hudson expressed a similar sentiment.
“Requiring them to wear it in my classroom is my choice,” Hudson said. “As long as I do not supersede the school policy, is that not part of my classroom management?”
However, even in voting for the plan, White said his goal was to not put too much on the teachers, saying he believed that, as written, the policy would not saddle the teachers with too much — either social distancing requirements can be met in a particular space or they cannot.
While much of the focus was on masks, other important points of the policy were also discussed.
Another piece of the puzzle is social distancing — which is also central to the mask discussion.
What is social distancing? While many of us have come to understand in recent months that it means at least six feet between people, one audience member pointed out that the definition is not specifically spelled out in the policy, likely leaving it open to unwanted interpretations.
There are also currently no solid answers to be had on what percentage of GCSC classrooms could allow for the kind of social distancing needed for students to remove their masks.
Screening is also addressed in the plan, with parents required to screen their students, while staff members are asked to screen themselves.
At school, those who might exhibit COVID-19 symptoms will be sent to a separate health clinic than the normal clinic for students needing medicine or with other ailments.
This prompted a whole new set of questions, as three nurses currently serve GCSC’s five school buildings. How much more spread thin will the nurses — not to mention building secretaries — find themselves if there are now 10 different clinics to manage rather than five?
While a number of other factors — including lunches, visitors, water, cleanliness and transportation — are also addressed in the plan, perhaps the most important and seemingly least controversial element of the plan was the learning options during the coming school year.
One of these is traditional, on-campus learning, which will look as much like normal as possible with the addition of masks and social-distancing requirements.
The second option for families as the school year begins is virtual learning, which Gibboney tried to make sure no one mistook for eLearning.
“Our virtual learning option, while it can’t mirror the school day, is going to be much more rigorous and the expectations are going to be much higher than what you saw with eLearning at the end of last year,” Gibboney said.
Virtual learning is a potential option for all students.
“We are going to offer a virtual learning option for those who either have an extenuating circumstance or who aren’t ready to come back into our school buildings,” Gibboney said.
However, GCSC has certain requirements that must be met for virtual learners, including:
• Students must have daily access to high speed internet.
• Students and parents must participate in a virtual school orientation.
• K-5 students and parents must commit to nine weeks of virtual school enrollment.
• 6-12 students must commit to a semester of virtual school enrollment.
• Virtual students will not be eligible for extracurricular activities.
• Students must schedule and complete state-mandated testing on campus (3-5 times a year).
• It will be the responsibility of the parent to provide their student with internet access, monitor progress and encourage their student to keep up with the work.
• Students must complete the courses within the time frame of the nine weeks or semester.
The need for the commitment springs from the need to appropriately assign teachers. The number and grade levels of students who sign up for virtual learning will determine which teachers and how many are assigned to virtual classrooms.
Parents will have the chance to opt for virtual or on-campus learning during school registration, which opens next week.
The other two learning models outlined as part of the plan will not be “options” to open the year but will be available should the pandemic flare up again.
One is quarantined learning, which will be similar to how assignments are made to students who have to miss for illness.
A mandated shutdown/at-home learning would be similar to the situation in which school ended last year, but based on the more rigorous “virtual learning” model than the eLearning that was utilized in March, April and May.
Finally, the board emphasized that the plan remains fluid. White said more than once that information will continue to be gathered and that the plan at the start of school is unlikely to be identical to what was approved Wednesday.
However, Gibboney gave the assurance that any changes made by the administration and committee would only serve to strengthen the plan and that any rollbacks would have to be board approved.
A copy of the draft plan, along with a link to a Youtube video of the meeting, is available on the front page of the GCSC website at www.greencastle.k12.in.us.
Additionally, with dozens of questions asked on Wednesday and others flowing to administrators by email, Gibboney said all would be written down and addressed in a question and answer format, set to be posted on the corporation website.
He said the corporation is developing a coronavirus page to help keep families up to date on the latest developments in the school plan.
Moving the meeting from GCSC Central Office to Parker Auditorium was helpful, as around 75 people were in attendance and could remain distanced from each other in the large room.
Additionally, the board meeting had been viewed on Youtube nearly 1,000 times by 6 p.m. Thursday.
With the tough decision of the special meeting now out of the way, the board will still meet for its regular monthly meeting at 7 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 27 at Central Office, 1002 Mill Pond Lane.