Warsaw Schools are pushing forward as summer approaches, preparing for the 2020-21 school year.
Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert was the guest panelist at the Warsaw COVID-19 press conference on Wednesday morning. As the spring semester has come to an end, Hoffert wanted to bring forward information on what the district is doing to make sure students come back in the fall.
He said staff has been hard at work to make sure buildings are prepped and ready to go, making sure they are as clean as possible and looking into adding filtration systems, additional safety measures and hopes to share the preparations with the public through videos.
Summer school is still planning on going on, but in June, it will be online format as school buildings remain closed till the end of June. He hopes they can do a summer school program toward the end of July and into early August and use it as a “jump start” into the fall semester.
Heading into the 2020-21 school year, Hoffert said the plan is to have students back in the school buildings, which currently is set for the second week of August. He said they are also waiting on more guidance from Governor Eric Holcomb and the Indiana Department of Education, which is expected to come out on July 1st.
He said his office has gotten many questions regarding if masks will be required and how they plan on having students social distance when back in the building. He said many of those decisions will follow after that guidance from down state.
Their biggest goal is to make sure their facilities are prepared for students return in August, working with staff, teachers and the technology department. The last half of the spring semester with eLearning will also be another curve for the district and how to implement that into the future.
Overall, Hoffert says with their plans, they realize they have to remain flexible as things could change at any given time.
As far as athletics go, Hoffert says fans want to come out and see Bartball, but they are waiting on more guidance from the IHSAA.
