The following letter was sent the school board. Please feel free to voice your opinion to the board members, share this letter, and continue to forward the petition link to continue to gain further support.
bturner@msdwt.k12.in.us
dkite@msdwt.k12.in.us
tdzwonar@msdwt.k12.in.us
jfencl@msdwt.k12.in.us
wthruston@msdwt.k12.in.us
nwoodson@msdwt.k12.in.us
Dear Members of the Metropolitan School District of Washington Township School Board and Superintendent Dr. Woodson,
We are parents of two children at Allisonville Elementary. We are writing because, like you, we want to see students back in school. There’s no question the global pandemic has changed our lives in so many ways. However, it’s time to offer our children more opportunities to return to school in-person. We are writing to address the reopening plan recently approved at the School Board meeting on Wednesday, August 26, 2020.
During the School Board Meeting on August 12, 2020, the reopening and/or closure of schools metrics released by the Marion County Public Health Department (MCPHD) was shared and discussed. This metric system included the four-tiered approach.
- Less than or equal to 5% positive= GREEN {All in-person}
- Greater than 5%, less than 11% positive = YELLOW {Elementary in-person; Middle & High School hybrid in-person and online}
- Greater than or equal to 11%, less than 13% positive = ORANGE {Elementary in-person; Middle & High School no in-person}
- 13% or higher positive = RED {no in-person}
On August 18, 2020, we received a draft of the reopening plan for our schools which included metrics that did not match that of the MCPHD, but was a three-tiered based approach (Green, Yellow, Red). Parents and families were invited to provide feedback on the three-tiered approach reopening plan. This draft is no longer posted online.
On Tuesday, August 25, 2020, parents and families received an email stating, “modifications to the plan have been made since the last School Board meeting discussion on August 18 based on continued feedback. The modifications, as well as the plan details, will be shared at the public School Board meeting.” It was frustrating and upsetting that we were not offered the opportunity to view the plan prior to the School Board Meeting and could not provide feedback on the plan that was ultimately approved.
At the August 26, 2020, School Board meeting, the reopening plan presented was significantly modified to be overly conservative and non-transparent.
Washington Township Reopening Plan
- Less than or equal to 5% positive = GREEN {elementary in-person; Middle & High School hybrid in-person and online}
- 5.1% or higher = RED {all virtual}
We write to request the Metropolitan School District of Washington Township School Board to revise the reopening plan and adopt the Marion County School Guidance metrics presented by the MCPHD. The Board specifically acknowledged that they are following MCPHD guidance, however modified and proposed their own guidance, based on feedback not reshared with the public, during the August 26, 2020 meeting. The MCPHD was presented as being the agency establishing the back to school guidance and metrics for Metropolitan School District of Washington Township during the board meeting, specifically acknowledging the board is following their guidance and metrics over the Indiana State Department of Health. We also believe MCPHD exhibits the expertise to make informed back to school guidance decisions not the Washington Township School Board.
Additionally, the majority of board members indicated they believed the proposed metrics and thresholds were too stringent and were not an aligned substitute for the previously approved tiered metric approach. Our children need to be offered more opportunity for in-person learning as we were previously given the option to review and decide upon. The MCPHD public health experts explicitly state in-person for elementary with a positivity rate of up to 13% and hybrid model for middle and high school for up to 11%. The newly proposed and approved 5% positivity rate metric appears to be too stringent with a 0.1% threshold to enter and revert from in person back to virtual learning not taking into account normal margins of error and specifically disregarding MCPHD metrics that the board continues to indicate they are relying upon. As other school districts statewide continue to go back to in-person learning with successful transitions, including public school districts in Marion County, we believe the Metropolitan School District of Washington Township has taken an overly conservative stance that is affecting the potential success of students and impacting the lives of families.
We have created an online petition and with the current support of 270 members of our community, we collectively request to trust the experts in public health at MCPHD and to revise the reopening plan to align with the posted MCPHD School Guidance. There is a public consensus that the Metropolitan School District of Washington Township was not being transparent with their revised reopening plan and that families are not being heard. This petition has been linked below and the signed petition list as of August 30, 2020 has been attached.
Petition to Change Reopening Plan
In closing, we respectfully request the Board to revisit this reopening plan decision and provide a transparent response and timeline to families of the Metropolitan School District of Washington Township for revisiting this plan.