FLOYDS KNOBS, Ind. — A number of school districts in southern Indiana are headed back to the classroom Wednesday, Aug. 12. New Albany-Floyd County Schools is offering a hybrid model, allowing students to learn at school or from home.
"We’ve spent the entire summer planning, so we feel confident in bringing them back. Where the journey goes, we don’t know," LuAnne Suer, the principal at Floyds Knobs Elementary said.
Floyds Knobs Elementary School has 788 students, and only about 100 have decided to stay home. That’s about 12% of the student body who will kick off the school year virtually this week.
The rest will walk through these halls for the first time in 5 months.
Once inside Floyds Knobs, everyone will wear a mask and everything will be scheduled down to the minute, to keep as much distance between students and staff at all times.
Everything from tables and desks to where you stand in the hall is spaced 3 to 6 feet apart, which is recommended for this age group.
"We’ve got X’s on the floors, circles on the carpet. From a child’s perspective, if you’re 6 or 5, you really don’t know what social distancing means and you certainly don’t know what it looks like, so we provided visuals throughout our hallways so kids will know exactly where they need to be," Suer said.
You won't see any morning assemblies in the gym. There are grab-and-go carts for breakfast and students will head right to their classroom to start the day. Lunches will take place in the cafeteria and the gym, where cohort seating will mimic those in their classroom. Art, physical education, and music classes will all be held online.
These are the plans in place right now, but Suer says they’re always subject to change.
Floyds Knobs Elementary ready to welcome students back to school despite pandemic
"I’m ready. This building has been empty too long and we need to get our kids here," Suer said.
The Floyd County Health Department is closely watching the COVID-19 cases that pop up within the district. To make sure cases don't appear in schools, teachers will get daily temperature checks and students' temperatures will be taken at random throughout the week.
Contact reporter Brooke Hasch at bhasch@whas11.com. Follow her on Twitter (@WHAS11Hasch) and Facebook.
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