By LARRY LANNAN
Hamilton Southeastern School Superintendent Allen Bourff covered a number of topics in a video message released Friday, including his recommendation on junior high school students moving to in-person classes.
Bourff
“I will be making a recommendation to the school board … to shift Junior Highs to an in-person, four-day week, beginning Monday, April 12,” said Bourff in the video message. The final decision rests with the seven-member board of trustees, which is set to meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday night.
Bourff points to a survey conducted with families of junior high school students, showing 86 percent support for in-person instruction, even if school officials are not always able to adhere to CDC guidelines. With the new guidance of three-foot social distancing, Bourff says “even that will be difficult in some circumstances.”
A total of 73 percent of the respondents favor four-days-a-week in class over the hybrid system.
Of those families with in-person students, 38 percent did not respond to the survey, and 64 percent of families with virtual students failed to respond.
“I want you to be aware that without a response, we will assign in-person students to an in-person schedule and virtual students will remain virtual until the end of the semester,” the superintendent said.
Hundreds of HSE Schools staff members are in the process of receiving COVID vaccinations, with the help of the Fishers Health Department. Bourff says this “will bring a level of safety to our staff that they haven’t had since the pandemic began.”