INDIANAPOLIS — The 2020-2021 school year is looking dramatically different across the country this year, from a combination of online and in-person learning to changes in school buildings. It's all in an effort to protect students and staff against COVID-19.
Wayne Township showed 13News the steps the district is taking at Garden City Elementary, which has an enrollment of roughly 500 K-6 students.
In kindergarten classrooms, students no longer will gather in a circle. In fact, at their desks, there are dividers placed between all students. Items like Play-Doh will no longer be shared.
In other grades, teachers have spaced desks far apart and put down a tape outline of the desk so students don’t stray.
Administrators have been planning for the new school year since shortly after the abrupt ending of the 2019-2020 school year.
Principal Virginia Poindexter started planning in April and admitted it was a short summer.
"I liken it to 'Groundhog Day' because everyday isn't the same, but it was going through the same obstacles," Poindexter said. "We think we have something figured out, and then you realize there's an obstacle you didn't think of, so you have to go back to the drawing board. It was about being flexible all summer long."
Teachers and staff came back earlier than normal to adjust to all the changes due to COVID-19.
In the final days before the start of the new year, everyone did run-throughs to make sure everything would be effective. One thing they learned that is now more important than ever, is time management.
"We really need to make sure that we have plenty of room, so we have to be much quicker on being at our spots when we need to be," Poindexter said. "I asked teachers to set alarms on their phone for all day long so that you can make sure you're where you need to be because we are on a tight schedule, and we need to get kids in at a certain time so that we have enough time to disinfect in between."
Another situation they've practiced for is if a student gets sick and might have COVID-19. Students will no longer be escorted to the nurse's office. First, the teacher calls the nurse's office to check on availability to avoid a potential line of students.
The next call is to school security, who can then watch the child on cameras as they walk to the nurse's office. The cameras help trace their steps so the area can be disinfected afterward.
School lunch will also be different. Wayne Township offers free breakfast and lunch to all students, which will continue this year regardless of how a child might be learning.
"We are going to be doing a combination of all three. We will have in-person students in our building, we will have hybrid learning for grades six through 12 and then we will have students who are doing remote learning, and we will be feeding all of those students," Director of Nutrition Sara Gasiorowski said.
For students who will be at the schools, every detail has been thought of when it comes to lunch. "X" spots have been put on the floor to show them where to stand 6 feet apart.
As they near the food line, a hand sanitizer dispenser is the first stop before picking up a tray that is disinfected between uses. In the meal line, food has been made at the school, and then everything is packaged, which also helps with speed of getting them through the line.
Packaging for to-go meals is driving up the cost of those meals to about 40 cents each, which has forced some changes to save money and time.
"We also scaled our menu down. Typically at an elementary school, we have four entrées and lots and lots of side options. This year at our elementary schools, we only have two entrées," Gasiorowski said.
The new lunchroom routine has been tried through the summer to make sure it's a success, which created questions about the smallest of details.
"It is just thinking down to the minor detail of how are they going to get their condiments and how will they get their eating utensils, so we are pre-bagging those items, and the cashier just hands it to them,” Gasiorowski said.
More than 17,000 students attend Wayne Township Schools, 20 percent of which chose e-learning to start the year, which means there will be more room in the cafeteria to socially distance.