The Knox Community School Corporation is dropping its virtual learning option and possibly the mask requirement for next school year, but most of the other COVID-19 procedures will remain in place. The 2021-2022 COVID reopening plan was approved by the school board Tuesday.
Superintendent Dr. William Reichhart felt the existing plan was solid, with very little spread taking place within the school environment. “There are three words to describe the year we just finished up, and I tell people, ‘We made it,’” Reichhart told board members. “We started off with not knowing exactly what was going to happen. We went ahead. We were one of the first districts to start. We had a lot of media coverage at the beginning of the year, and I would say, overall, thanks to our staff and our administrators and parents and students, it went extremely well, better than what I ever thought it would.”
But he stressed that kids performed better in-person, with virtual students often experiencing a significant drop in grades from those in the classroom. “I know I had an elementary teacher on the very last day, as the kids were leaving school – I was out by the bus line – and she said, ‘Please, don’t ever make us teach virtually again,’ were her words, and that came from a kindergarten teacher,” Reichhart said.
He said he doesn’t think there’ll be a need to require masks when students return in August, but the school corporation will follow health officials’ guidance when that time comes. Governor Holcomb’s statewide rules for masks in school buildings are set to expire at the end of the month.
