LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- New Albany Floyd County Schools will continue the A/B schedule for grades 7 through 12 for the rest of 2020.
Kindergarten through sixth graders continue with in-person learning, except for four Wednesdays that will be online: Oct. 28, Nov. 11, Nov. 18 and Dec. 9. Superintendent Brad Snyder said that plan is working to keep COVID-19 from spreading.
"We haven't closed any buildings," he said. "We haven't closed any class levels. We have had cases. We've had 40 some cases with our students in the first 30 days."
But Travis Thomas, a parent in the district, said he struggles to understand the logic. He said when Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb announced Indiana was in its final reopening stage last Wednesday, he assumed schools would resume in-person instruction five days a week.
"With everyone going back to sporting events, everyone going back to restaurants and bars, everything's open except for the school," Thomas said.
Thomas points to the color-coded map Indiana created in August that can help schools make decisions when it comes to learning. As of Tuesday, Floyd County was in the yellow indicating schools can operate all grades in-person but increase vigilance in distancing, hand hygiene and masks. Snyder said the district takes into account those recommendations and other factors as well.
New Albany Floyd County Consolidated School Corporation.
"There are restrictions in Indiana," he said. "The mask mandate is still with us, and large crowds of 500 are still with us. In our secondary schools, we have over 1,000 students at Scribner and Hazelwood. We have 1,500, 2,000 at Highland Hills, Floyd and New Albany. That's still a large number of children confined to one indoor space. So even though the state of Indiana has opened up, there are still indoor air quality. It's still a highly transmissible disease."
Thomas said he just wants his kids back in the classroom full-time.
"What's best for them is being in a classroom, with their teachers, learning every day," he said.
The district's plan also announced the gradual re-opening of some school facilities for use by outside organizations. Any future snow days will automatically be at-home virtual days so schools won't have to make up days later in the year. As far as the third quarter, the district will make a decision closer to the end of 2020.
"I want school to go back to what it was like in 2019," Snyder said. "I really do. I want that more than anything. But I also have the obligation to balance that situation with the demands of public health during a pandemic."
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