Happy first week of school and welcome to Study Hall

Good morning and welcome back to Study Hall!

If you’re new here, we are Arika Herron and MJ Slaby, IndyStar’s education team and — after this sleepless week — your resident human-zombie hybrids. Every week, we’ll deliver the latest education news from around the state straight to your inbox.

And, ICYMI, last week was pretty newsy. Let’s get right to it.

Don’t ask if — ask when, and then what?

Last week, we told you about the first school to see a case of COVID-19 this year.

To almost no one’s surprise: there have been more (see here, here, here, here and here). 

And we have what could be our first case of transmission in a school.

Elwood Junior Senior High School, which spent the last week on eLearning because at least one staff member tested positive and several others were in close contact, told families on Monday that a student had tested positive. On Wednesday, they said another student tested positive – and this one had been in close contact with the first.

Elwood, of course, is not the only school system to deal with the coronavirus in the first days of the new school year.

We are tracking cases connected to schools around Central Indiana and across the state, counting instances where a member of the school community tested positive and potentially exposed other members of the school community — so a student or staff member that was in a school facility or at a school-sanctioned activity while potentially infectious.

By our count, at least 40 schools across the state have seen at least one case since schools officially reopened on July 1. Many of those popped up on sports teams over the summer.

How widespread are cases in schools, though? It’s hard to say.

The Indiana State Department of Health is tracking that information and relaying it to local health departments to give to schools and aid in contract tracing, but is not making it publicly available. State officials have said they’re considering some sort of public report but even if that does happen, it could be weeks — or longer.

In lieu of such a report, IndyStar is tracking cases of COVID-19 in schools around the state.

Just this morning, we published a searchable database that contains every case of COVID-19 connected to an Indiana school since they reopened July 1 that IndyStar has been able to track and confirm.

Until the state starts providing that information, we’ll update our database daily as we confirm new cases and continue to ask questions about how those cases are being managed. 

Do you know of a case not listed?Let us know at education@indystar.com.

Lessons learned

If you’re a regular reader of the Star (which, since you’re subscribers, we hope you are!) you know we love a good “takeaway” piece. And with so much happening in the education world this week, there was plenty to be gleaned.

1. Hybrid schedules are popular. On Tuesday, Noblesville was the first Hamilton County district to return to classes. Students in middle and high schools in the district are on a hybrid schedule that means they are in-person half of the time and online half of the time. It’s an approach that neighbors Carmel Clay and Westfield Washington are using too. Fewer students = easier social distancing. 

2. Some, but not all, kids in Marion County are in class. Starting Wednesday, five Marion County districts started school in-person. Several more start this week. Some, though, aren’t bringing kids back into buildings anytime soon. And until the county’s infection rate improves, most middle and high schools will only operate at half-capacity.

3. Virtual learning is different. On Thursday, Hamilton Southeastern Schools started classes and parents were skeptical of how different virtual learning in the fall would be from in the spring. But they noticed some differences right away. Plus, the teachers were back in classrooms — and bells still rang for passing periods.

Syllabus

Here’s your reading list for the week. Hey! If students have homework, you should too… right?

School leaders were nothing short of stunned at the end of last week when they received a letter from the Sen. Rod Bray, leader of that chamber’s Republican supermajority, that seemed to walk back early commitments to fully fund public schools this year, regardless of how students receive their instruction. 

24 hours after the letter was sent, Gov. Eric Holcomb broke his silence and reaffirmed his commitment to “providing 100 percent funding to schools as they navigate the unprecedented challenges of opening the academic year during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The attitude from some educators is, basically: we’ll believe it when we see it. Superintendent Jennifer McCormick is calling for a special legislative session to give schools funding certainty. 

Read Bray’s letter for yourself.

Hamilton Southeastern made waves when the district switched its reopening plan to a four-phase plan that starts with keeping students all digital until Labor Day. And the district could be making changes to the plan again after meeting with the Fishers Health Department on Friday and getting some new guidance— MJ will be watching their board meeting on Wednesday to find out.

Also at HSE, this case from last weekhighlights the added challenges the pandemic has put on special education. What do you do when your student isn’t able to participate in virtual learning? Here’s why one family went to the Indiana Department of Education to complain and what schools are expected to do when it comes to special education during a pandemic.

IndyStar columnist Suzette Hackney writes about the uncertainty and anxiety that’s swirling around the start of this school year. “There is no one-size-fits-all answer to opening schools, but the patchwork approach is maddening.”

At Purdue, Mitch Daniels been out front urging for the reopening of college campuses and said that Purdue owed it to students. On Friday, the university released record undergraduate enrollment numbers. 

Last week, we told you about Elkhart County’s plan to push forward with in-person school even as the area remained a coronavirus hot spot. On Thursday, the health department recommended school start virtually. People were not pleased. And on Friday, the health department backed down.

Most school districts around the state are offering both in-person and virtual instruction. In Muncie, we get an early look at how many families are choosing the online option. Hint: it varies.

Extra Credit

In addition to breaking down the top stories in Indiana education, one of the goals we have for Study Hall is to explain more about the news gathering and reporting process. Today, we’re going to let you in on conversations we had, and continue to have, about when to write a story about a case of COVID-19 in a school.

We have had readers ask us about this. We’ve been asked why we’re reporting on each and every case, why we’re “singling out” schools. We’ve been asked if we’re trying to scare people, if we are trying to get schools shut down.

First, to those of you who are asking these questions: Thank you! It is OK for you to ask questions about why we’re reporting on stories. We’re happy to answer them and we’re happy to engage in a dialogue about our work. These questions give us a chance to explain the rationale behind stories. And sometimes, the criticism is fair and it gives us a chance to learn and do better in the future.

Second, to answers those questions:

Right now, we are reporting on each confirmed case inside a Central Indiana school. We’re still having conversations amongst ourselves about how long we will do this, but at the beginning it seemed the prudent thing to do. Not because we want to make schools look bad or to scare people, but because this is an issue of great public interest and because we believe the public has a right to know how the reopening of schools is going.

We also need to know how schools are handling these situations. Are they following the proper steps? Are they able to contain a single case and stop it from spreading to large groups?

These are public institutions that we charge with educating our children and keeping them safe. If they are doing that, great. That’s the story we will tell. If they are not, we will tell that story too.

And we’re not doing this because we want schools to close. That decision is up to health officials, school boards and the families whose kiddos are enrolled in them. We’re doing it because we believe that people need to be fully informed, that they deserve to have as much information as possible, when we’re asking them to make these decisions.

Lastly, even though officials said they’re considering a public report about the number of cases in schools, one doesn’t exist yet. So, as more than one million kids go back to school across the state, there is no uniform reporting. School districts and county health departments all have different ways of alerting the public to cases, if they do at all. By tracking the cases and telling you about them, we’ll all have a better idea of how our schools are doing.

We want this space to be a place to answer questions any of you might have. Maybe you have questions about something happening in your kid’s school, or how schools get funded – ask them! We’ll do our best to get you answers!

That’s a wrap on this issue of Study Hall! Thanks so much for subscribing. We’ll see you next week — same time, same place. 

— Arika & MJ 

What do you want to learn more about in the next Study Hall? Email suggestions, feedback and tips to: education@indystar.com.

Are you a parent or guardian, teacher or student? We’d love to connect! If you’d be interested in talking with one of us — Arika or MJ — drop your contact info into this form. We may reach out for an upcoming story!

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