Indiana’s top educator outlines possibilities for schools this fall

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Closed classrooms means kids are learning at home, on computers or remotely in other ways.

“Back-to-School” in the fall might look different. We caught up with the state’s top educator on Tuesday.

“It’s going to either look back-to-normal, which I think is ‘pie-in-the-sky’ or a little bit like today, where we are just pretty much remote,” said Jennifer McCormick, the state superintendent of public instruction.

Or it could be a hybrid of the two, meaning some people are on-site at school and some are learning virtually.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said Monday that a combination of distance and in-person learning is a possibility for that state’s fall start to classes.

In Indiana, the idea of shift-splitting is being considered.

“Where you have a first shift of school and a second shift of school, which is very tricky and very expensive,” McCormick said.

Also being considered: Schools might adopt a rolling entry process.

“Where you bring different kids back at different times. You roll them in and roll them out. So those 180 days for one teacher may be a chunk of time. Another teacher, an overlapping chunk of time,” McCormick said.

Adam Baker, spokesperson for the Indiana Department of Education, told News 8, “IDOE expects these talks to ramp up as we get into the Summer months.”

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