With the death of Steve Bouchie, Indiana law gives the School Board 30 days to name someone to fill out Bouchie’s term. State law mandates that the Board will appoint a person from Bouchie’s district to fill the now empty seat. Bouchie represented District 2, which is the area of Washington Township outside the City of Washington. Any person interested in representing District 2 for the remainder of the term should send a letter expressing interest to the President of the Washington Community School Board at the Washington Community Schools Central Office, 301 E. South Street, Washington, Indiana. The deadline for receiving the letters is July 23.
In regular business, the main topic was the adoption of a plan to open the schools this Fall. Jennifer Hoyt, a parent and a nurse practitioner, told the Board she was concerned that masking was only strongly recommended and not required. Hoyt also said she was concerned how the students would be adequately socially distanced in the school environment, and concluded by saying she did not think it was time to open schools.
Board members responded by saying the plan is a two-county plan and had been been developed with strong input from the Daviess and Martin County Health Departments and in collaboration with all the school systems In Daviess and Martin Counties. The Board also noted that the plan includes an option for on-line learning if parents are uncomfortable about sending their children for in-person instruction. Board member Steve Frette notes that “to move forward, we have to have some sort of game plan”. After the comments, the Board approved the plan 5-0.
In a statement after the Board Meeting, Dr. Roach emphasized that this is not just a Washington plan. He said An immense amount of guidance and information has been used to form our back to school plans. All components of the plan follow directives from Governor Eric Holcomb and considers information and guidance from the CDC, Indiana State Health Department, Daviess County Health Department, The Martin County Health Department, and the Indiana Department of Education. We also took into consideration input from parents, teachers, staff, and community members on our back to school committees and results from our Parent Feedback Survey. The survey had over 700 responses representing almost 1,000 Washington Community Schools students.
We understand that dealing with the COVID-19 virus is a fluid situation that may cause us to alter our plan from the current form that is being released. The plan also has built in flexibility that allows us to transition to one of three developed stages within the plan (Green, Yellow, or Red).
Final enrollment for the 2020-2021 School year begins July 20th. Information is available on the Washington Community School’s website.
In other business the Board approved hiring Annalise Nedderman as an elementary teacher, and approved ECA appointments for the next school year.
