Nurse Lisa Bosnak dons gloves to clean her desk area after a sick student left the nurses office at Lake Central High School on Friday morning in St. John. Lake Central students returned to class this week.
Nurses Carla VanDerNoord, left, and Lisa Bosnak compare notes while updating data related to whether students are on campus or e-learning Friday morning at Lake Central High School in St. John.
Nurse Lisa Bosnak uses disinfectant wipes to clean the area in her office after a sick student was sent home Friday morning at Lake Central High School in St. John.
Nurse Carla VanDerNoord updates student data for the beginning of the school year in the nurses office Friday morning at Lake Central High School in St. John.
Nurse Lisa Bosnak hands a bag to student in her office who was feeling nauseous Friday morning at Lake Central High School in St. John.
Nurse Lisa Bosnak calls a parent to come pick up a sick student in the nurses office Friday morning at Lake Central High School in St. John.
An infrared thermometer sits on nurse Carla VanDerNoord's desk in the nurses office Friday morning at Lake Central High School in St. John.
Nurse Lisa Bosnak throws away paper towel after drying her hands. Bosnak had just cleaned the areas in her office where a sick student had sat Friday morning at Lake Central High School in St. John.
As students return to class this month in Northwest Indiana, school nurses are serving on a new frontline in the coronavirus pandemic.
Across the Region, districts are exploring options to bring students back virtually, in person or at a hybrid model, exposing students to potential viral spread.
The key to a good return-to-school plan educators say is flexibility, patience and community participation in self-screening.
Several positive cases have been confirmed among individuals in Region schools where districts have reopened in varying degrees.
State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box has said she only expects cases to increase as more students and teachers come together.
"I continue to believe that our schools can safely reopen by wearing masks, practicing social distancing and good hand washing, cohorting students, and ensuring that people who are sick, or are close contacts of someone with COVID, stay home," Box said in an early August news conference. "This does not mean that our schools will be free of COVID. What it means is that we all need to do everything possible to limit the spread of COVID."
To prepare for the eventuality of cases in schools, building nurses have proactively established coronavirus tracing and mitigation practices to monitor and prevent spread where possible among students returning in person.
School leaders said they’re investing in PPE, such as masks, gowns and booties for nursing staff. Nurses are training teachers and other school staff to identify coronavirus symptoms, including a cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing or the chills.
At Hanover Community School Corp., which opened in-person last week, teachers are being asked to call ahead before sending a student to the nurse’s office. Students showing COVID-19 symptoms will be directed to an established “sick room” separate from others receiving more routine medical treatment in the nurse’s office.
Students will be temperature checked before entering the room, and if students need to be sent home, they will be escorted to the main office to meet their parents, rather than inviting other visitors into the building.
“I’m ready for it,” said Heather Gibson, a nurse at Hanover’s Lincoln Elementary School. “This is just what we’re going to have to do for the start of the year.”
Gibson is a part of her school’s contact tracing team. While schools have been directed to work with their local health departments in these efforts, Gibson said she is keeping a binder of all student seating charts for quick identification of close contacts, defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as those who have been within 6 feet of a COVID-19-positive individual for 15 minutes or longer.
School leaders across Region districts returning in person have worked to establish as much distance as possible between desks to reduce the number of students deemed to be in close contact.
In the Crown Point Community School Corp., which reopens for hybrid instruction this week, high school students will eat lunch in the gymnasium to help create and maintain space.
Crown Point schools are similarly establishing separate clinic areas for symptomatic students, said Arthur Equihua, director of personnel for the district. He said binders are likely to be used at the elementary school level and electronic seating charts in the upper levels to pinpoint students’ location in a building at any given time.
“We are going to spend some time coaching up our students and our staff on coming into a building,” Equihua said. “Self-checking, and checking with others, is something we want to bring to the forefront.”
In Lake Central schools, buildings will not necessarily have a quarantine room, said the district’s head nurse, Kristie Blankenship.
However, teachers are being provided first aid kits for classrooms use to identify and treat minor concerns like cuts and scrapes without sending students to the nurse’s office and nursing staff may go directly to students in some cases.
“The important thing to me that I can express to families is recognizing when (students) are sick, to keep them home,” Blankenship said. “Our goal is to keep the kids in school and to keep everyone safe.”
Crown Point Community School Corp. Bulldog Back to School Plan
Where’s your school’s plan? cps.k12.in.us
Options: Hybrid learning first nine weeks.
Schedule: Students will meet in person two days a week and participate in remote learning the remainder of the week.
Masks: Required in most contexts, except when eating or in classrooms where social distancing is appropriate.
Important dates: Students' first day of school has been pushed back from Aug. 19 to Aug. 24.
Duneland School Corp. Reentry Plan
Where’s your school’s plan? duneland.k12.in.us
Options: Duneland began on a hybrid learning model. Students are expected to transition to four days a week in-person, with a full virtual option available, in October.
Schedule: In the district's hybrid model, students attend class two-to-three days a week in-person in an alphabetically determined rotation. When not meeting in-person, students will be expected to keep up with remote learning assignments. As the district shifts to in-person learning, students will attend school in person four days a week with elearning on Wednesdays.
Masks: During the pandemic, students will be required to have a mask with them at all times. Students may be allowed to remove masks in classrooms when social distancing can be maintained.
Important dates: Students' first day delayed from Aug. 12 to Aug. 25. Four days a week in-person to begin Oct. 5.
East Porter County School Corp. Return to Learn
Where’s your school’s plan? eastporter.k12.in.us
Options: On campus or elearning.
Schedule: Students on campus will follow a traditional school schedule. Remote students must attend all recorded or live instruction sessions and communicate with teachers during school hours.
Masks: Masks are recommended when riding the bus, when dropping a student off to enter the school building and where social distancing is not possible.
Important dates: Students’ first day is Aug. 12.
Gary Community School Corp. 2020-2021 School Re-Entry
Where’s your school’s plan? garycsc.k12.in.us/2020-2021-school-re-entry
Options: All virtual start to school year.
Schedule: More information to come.
Masks: Masks will be required at certain times for all students and staff.
Important dates: Students’ first day of Aug. 12 delayed to Aug. 17 following power and internet connectivity outages.
Griffith Public Schools Return to Learn
Where’s your school’s plan? griffith.k12.in.us
Options: Virtual for first four weeks. In-person instruction to continue after.
Schedule: Online learning to be provided by Griffith teachers.
Masks: Masks will be required, but may be removed where social distancing is appropriate. Face shields may also be used.
Important dates: Students' first day of instruction will begin Aug. 19, pushed back from the district's original start date of Aug. 12. In-person instruction resumes Sept. 16.
Hanover Community Schools Re-Entry Plan
Where’s your school’s plan? hanover.k12.in.us
Options: In-person or elearning.
Schedule: Five days a week of instruction. Virtual instruction will be provided by licensed Hanover teachers.
Masks: Masks are strongly encouraged where six feet of social distancing cannot be maintained and required on school buses, in restrooms and when visiting an office.
Important dates: Online registration packets will be made available to parents in late July. Students’ first day is Aug. 19.
Lake Central School Corp. Return to School
Where’s your school’s plan? lcsc.us
Options: In person or online learning.
Schedule: Five days per week for in-person instruction; minimum five hours a day for grades 1-6, and six hours for grades 7-12, if choosing elearning option.
Masks: Masks will be required anytime students and staff cannot maintain six feet of distance. They will not be required while in classrooms if students are working individually and facing the same direction.
Important dates: School board members approved a delayed start date of Aug. 17, pushed back from Aug. 12.
Lake Ridge New Tech Schools IN Class Re-Entry Plan 2020-21
Where’s your school’s plan? lakeridge.k12.in.us
Options: Remote learning for first nine weeks.
Schedule: Remote students will receive education from teachers as they would in the classroom with some live teaching sessions or recorded lessons being provided.
Masks: Staff and students will be required to have a mask with them at all times.They will be required to be worn in certain settings such as on school buses, moving throughout school buildings, and speaking to others face-to-face.
Important dates: Students' first day was delayed from Aug. 19 to Sept. 2.
LaPorte Community School Corp. Getting Back on Track
Where’s your school’s plan? www.lpcsc.k12.in.us
Options: In-person, LPCSC-led distance learning, or LPCSC Homeschool Academy.
Schedule:Distance learning will require a nine week (grades K-8) or semester-long (9-12) commitment. LPCSC Homeschool Academy is a full school year commitment.
Masks: Masks will be available for students and staff and worn as much as reasonably possible. Some students may be considered medically exempt. See full school plan for more details.
Important dates: Registration for traditional in-person, LPCSC distance learning and LPCSC Homeschool Academy is required by Aug. 5. Students' first day is Aug. 24.
Merrillville Community School Corp. Re-Entry Plan
Where’s your school’s plan? mvsc.k12.in.us
Options: Virtual learning first trimester.
Masks: Students must have a mask with them at all times. Masks can be removed at lunch or where social distancing is possible.
Important dates: Students' first day is Aug. 20.
Michigan City Area Schools Reopening 2020
Where’s your school’s plan? educateMC.net/reopening
Options: All online until fall break. In-person or one of two Michigan City online learning plans available upon building reopening on Oct. 19.
Schedule: Five days a week with daily guidance either in-person or online of instructor, or self-paced online model for students not intending to return to traditional learning in future years.
Masks: Visitors, students and staff must have masks with them at all times.
Important dates: Students’ first day is Aug. 24 with a potential return to in-person instruction based on community coronavirus positivity rates on Oct. 19.
Portage Township Schools Re-Entry Plan
Where’s your school’s plan? www.portage.k12.in.us
Options: All Portage students' learning will be virtual for the first quarter of the school year. Grades K-6 to return in-person in the second quarter. Grades 7-12 will return in hybrid with full virtual available to both sets of students.
Schedule: Grades K-6 will attend five days a week in person. Grades 7-12 will return in a hybrid model, attending either Mondays and Tuesdays or Thursdays and Fridays in person. All other days will be elearning.
Important dates: Students will begin their first day of virtual learning on Aug. 12. In-person learning to begin Oct. 20.
School City of East Chicago Protect Cardinal Plan
Where’s your school’s plan? scec.k12.in.us
Options: Virtual learning for first nine weeks. In-person or virtual instruction offered in second quarter.
Schedule: Synchronous instruction will be led for students on a daily schedule from East Chicago classrooms. Students will transition to four days a week of in-person instruction in late October. Wednesdays will be remote learning days for all students.
Masks: Required in most contexts, except when eating or in classrooms where social distancing is appropriate. Visitors, students and staff must have masks with them at all times.
Important dates: Teachers' first day is Aug. 12. Instruction begins for students on Aug. 17. Students to transition to in-person instruction beginning Oct. 26.
School City of Hammond Re-Open Plan
Where’s your school’s plan? hammond.k12.in.us
Options: Virtual learning for first semester.
Schedule: Students will be taught on a a school day schedule with attendance taken daily, with exceptions for in-person career and special education programs.
Masks: Masks must be work by everyone in common spaces such as hallways, cafeterias, washrooms and teacher work rooms.
Important dates: Students’ first day is Aug. 19.
School City of Hobart Protect Brickies Plan
Where’s your school’s plan? hobart.k12.in.us/ProtectBrickies
Options: Choice of in person or elearning.
Schedule: Five days a week of in-person instruction or virtual elearning for all students following set school day schedule.
Masks: Students and staff are required to have a mask with them at all times. Required in most contexts, except when eating or in classrooms where social distancing is appropriate.
Important dates: Students’ first day pushed back from Aug. 12 to Aug. 24.
School Town of Highland School Reopening Framework
Where’s your school’s plan? highland.k12.in.us
Options: Online instruction for first nine weeks.
Schedule: Online students will receive instruction from a school town employee via Google Classroom or another online instructional program.
Masks: Required in most contexts, except when eating or in classrooms where distancing is appropriate.
Important dates: Student registration begins online Aug. 3. Students’ first day is Aug. 12.
Valparaiso Community Schools Return to Learn
Where’s your school’s plan? valpo.k12.in.us
Options: In-person or remote learning.
Schedule: Valparaiso Community Schools reopened five days a week in person. Remote learners will be assigned classes and consistent instructors in an effort to provide education synchronous to students’ in-person peers. The districts transitions to Wednesday e-learning days beginning Sept. 23.
Masks: Face masks are recommended at all times. Masks will be required where social distancing is not possible.
Important dates: Students’ first day is Aug. 12. Once-a-week e-learning days will take place every Wednesday from Sept. 23 to Dec. 9.
Carley Lanich
Education Reporter
I cover all things K-12 and higher education throughout the Region. I come to Northwest Indiana via Indianapolis and studied journalism at the IU Media School in Bloomington.
