OHIO – School districts across the country learned a lot during the pandemic. If nothing else, officials in urban districts in Ohio said what they learned was to take it slow this time around when making decisions.
With COVID still hanging around, Dr. Elizabeth Lolli, superintendent of Dayton Public Schools said, “Last year, you know, we were making decisions very quickly because our parents needed to know our teachers needed to know our staff needed to know.”
But this year, “We’re not doing anything quickly. We’re not taking that panic mode and making decisions. We are working through very slowly and very methodically this time around so it’s much easier,” she said.
It’s also easier because they already know kids are going back to school every day.
To make sure kids can stay in the classroom and have the instructors needed even if someone calls out sick because of COVID, districts like Columbus City Schools and Youngstown City Schools already recruited enough people to close those gaps.
In Youngstown City Schools, “We hired permanent subs in every in every building who were not assigned to a classroom,” explained CEO Justin Jennings.
“We had 8,100 students in our summer program. So we had extra teachers we hired, our pre-service teachers — those graduates from Ohio State University,” Superintendent Talisa Dixon of Columbus City Schools said.
Perhaps one of the biggest things that many of the districts in Ohio have been able to square away is transportation. While several districts still need drivers, social distancing guidelines for buses won’t present a problem as it did in the past. So, parents can breathe a sigh of relief as yellow bus schedules are back to normal.
When asked if districts would go back to hybrid-style learning, several within the Ohio 8 indicated they’d wait to hear from the governor before making that decision.
Ohio 8 Coalition schools and their mask policies:
- Columbus City Schools — Required
- Toledo Public Schools — Required
- Akron Public Schools — Required
- Cincinnati Public Schools — Required
- Cleveland Metropolitan — Required for first five weeks and will reassess
- Canton City Schools — Required
- Youngstown City Schools — Required for first five weeks and will reassess
- Dayton Public Schools — Currently recommended for unvaccinated students, but may shift after meeting with the health commissioner
