A sign outside of McKinley Elementary School in East Chicago reads, "Starting virtual. Staying safe." All McKinley Elementary School staff were asked on Aug. 19 to work from home until Aug. 24 after two teachers leading instruction from their classroom during the district's virtual reopening this week reported testing positive for the coronavirus.
EAST CHICAGO — By the end of the month, School City of East Chicago students should have an idea of when they could return to in-person learning.
Superintendent Dee-Etta Wright presented three return-to-learn options to the school board during a virtual work session Wednesday.
Since the beginning of the 2020-2021 academic year, the school city has largely operated on a remote learning model — save for two weeks when students returned to in-person learning.
"Our goal is our kids, that's the main goal is our kids, and of course, we want to make sure that the staff is safe as well," Wright said.
"The purpose of this plan is just to work together to make sure that we're all on the same page and that possibly we can return our kids back into the buildings soon, in a safe manner."
Wright then presented the three options, noting 48% of school city parents surveyed want their students to return to in-person instruction, while 52% wish to remain virtual.
Option A includes middle and elementary schools returning to school in person from March 8-26 on a split team A and team B schedule, Wright said.
Students in team A would attend school in person on Monday and Tuesday, and team B students on Thursday and Friday. Both teams would receive virtual instruction on Wednesdays.
Career and technical education (CTE) high school students would return to in person learning on March 8 and attend on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Remaining high school students would remain virtual until April 5.
Benefits of the plan, Wright noted, include smaller groups, making contact tracing easier, a phased-in approach and the ability to test the system.
The disadvantages, she noted, include students only being in person two days a week and the potential of inconveniencing parents who want their students in school four days a week.
In option B, all elementary and middle school students would return March 8, and attend class in person on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. CTE high school students also would return, while the remaining high school students would stay virtual until April 5.
There would be district-wide virtual live instruction on Wednesdays in option B, Wright said.
While option B offers more in-person instruction, it also means larger groups, Wright said, which could mean more potential exposure and contact tracing.
Option C proposes all students remain virtual until April 5. After, students would attend classes in person on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, with virtual live learning on Wednesday.
No matter which option the board chooses, East Chicago Director of Special Education Tamara Pol has asked all moderate special education classes attend in-person learning four days a week beginning March 8.
The board didn't take a vote on a return-to-learn plan on Monday.
Wright encouraged educators to submit comments to East Chicago Federation of Teachers President Helen Steinbach by Feb. 18, and parents to send questions to Sylvia Alvarez, the school city's parent liaison, by Feb. 17.
Wright plans to make a recommendation on the district's return-to-learn plan during a special meeting on Feb. 25.
Calumet College of St. Joseph
Calumet College of St. Joseph staff provide regular updates sharing the number of active cases and total cases among students, staff and faculty. The college also provides the number of individuals cleared to return to CCSJ. Data is available on the college's website at ccsj.edu/covid19.
Crown Point Community School Corp.
Crown Point administrators regularly share updates on the number of close contacts quarantined in each school. The district also shares a weekly update on the number of students and staff who have tested positive for COVID-19. Data is available on the Crown Point Community School Corp. website under the COVID-19 Impact Data link at cps.k12.in.us.
Duneland School Corp.
The Duneland School Corp. regularly updates a DSC COVID-19 Dashboard sharing the number of active and total cases reported by school building. The dashboard is available online under the district's COVID-19 Support Center at duneland.k12.in.us/domain/410.
East Porter County School Corp.
The East Porter County School Corp. provides data on the number of active cases reported as each school in the district. East Porter County's dashboard is updated daily at 3 p.m. and is available under the Featured Events section of the district's homepage at eastporter.k12.in.us.
Griffith Public Schools
Griffith Public Schools shares data for the number of positive cases and quarantines in each school building among students and staff. Data is available on the Griffith Public Schools coronavirus website at griffith.k12.in.us.
Hanover Community School Corp.
Hanover Community School Corp. administrators update a public COVID-19 Data Dashboard weekly with information with the number of positive cases by school and the percentage of in-person staff and students quarantined. The Hanover dashboard can be found under the Announcements section of the district's website at hanover.k12.in.us.
Indiana University Northwest
Indiana University Northwest provides weekly update every Wednesday in the university's efforts to test symptomatic individuals in addition to preventative mitigation tests. Data for each can be found on IUN's website at covid.iu.edu/dashboards/northwest.
Lake Central School Corp.
Lake Central staff update a COVID-19 Impact Data table every Wednesday detailing the number of positive cases and quarantines in each school. The district's COVID-19 data is available online under the Important News tab at lcsc.us.
Michigan City Area Schools
Michigan City Area Schools updates a COVID-19 Data Dashboard with the number of active and total cases of coronavirus reported by school building, as well as the number of active and total close contacts identified across the district. The Michigan City dashboard is available on the district's COVID-19 Support & Information website at mcas.k12.in.us/corona.
Portage Township Schools
Portage provides regular updates on the number of active cases and quarantines across its district, as well as case totals for each school, in an interactive database. Portage's coronavirus data is available on the district's COVID-19 Information page at portage.k12.in.us/back_to_school_plan/p_t_s_c_o_v_i_d-19_dashboard.
Purdue University Northwest
Purdue University Northwest provides weekly updates every Friday on the number of positive cases active among students, as well as faculty and staff. The university's PNW Active COVID-19 Cases dashboard can be found at pnw.edu/pnw-and-coronavirus-covid-19.
School City of East Chicago
The School City of East Chicago shares data on current and cumulative reports of COVID-19 and quarantines among students and staff by school building. The district provides updates on Tuesday evenings. A dashboard is available on the school city's homepage at scec.k12.in.us.
School City of Hammond
The School City of Hammond provides weekly updates on the number of individuals quarantined and that have tested positive for COVID-19. The data is available on the school city's homepage at hammond.k12.in.us.
School City of Hobart
The School City of Hobart provides weekly summary data of positive student and staff cases and quarantines by school building. The Hobart data is available online under the Weekly Summary Data section of the school city's Protect Brickies website at hobart.k12.in.us/protectbrickies.
School City of Whiting
The School City of Whiting shares updates on the number of active cases, as well as total cases dating back to Oct. 5, among each of the district's three schools. The data is accessible by visiting the school city's website at whiting.k12.in.us/o/district.
School Town of Highland
The School Town of Highland shares weekly updates on the number of active and total COVID-19 cases and quarantines for each of its schools. Data is updated weekly on Fridays and includes total for both staff and students. Highland's COVID-19 Impact Data dashboard is available on the school town's homepage at highland.k12.in.us.
Union Township School Corp.
Union Township School Corp. shared the number of active COVID-19 cases in each of its schools in a district dashboard. The data is available by visiting Union Township's homepage at union.k12.in.us.
Valparaiso Community Schools
Valparaiso Community Schools provides weekly updates of new positive cases and quarantines, as well as historical data, for its district. New cases and total cases reported are also included for each school. The district's COVID-19 Dashboard is available at valpo.k12.in.us/apps/pages/dashboard.
Valparaiso University
Valparaiso University provides daily updates of the number of active cases and quarantines among students, faculty and staff on campus. The university also provides historic data on the total number of cases reported and individual who have recovered. And, VU includes a percentage of beds available for use of students in quarantine or isolation. The information is available at Valparaiso's website valpo.edu/looking-forward.
Mary Freda
South Lake County Reporter
Mary Freda is the South Lake County reporter at The Times. She is a proud Ball State graduate, where she studied news journalism and Spanish. You can reach Mary at mary.freda@nwi.com or 219-853-2563.
