<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/2/1582221969260.jpeg" alt="Mark Tallman, Kansas Association of School Boards" />
 <figcaption>Mark Tallman, Kansas Association of School Boards</figcaption>
 </figure>
By
NICK GOSNELL <a href="https://hutchpost.com">Hutch
Post</a>
HUTCHINSON — 
An advocate for the Kansas Association of School Boards says the Kansas 
State Board of Education is working on recommendations for school 
districts for how they should approach reopening in the fall."Everyone
 is hopeful that schools will reopen," Tallman said. "The question is, 
what kinds of restrictions may there be on things like social distancing
 and activities and students coming together."An unknown factor is the attitude of parents toward putting their kids back together with others in school."How
 many parents may not want their kids to come back or come right away, 
how do we accommodate that?" Tallman asked. "We've got a group of people
 who are extremely anxious to make sure school starts and we've got 
another group who are very concerned about school starting and we're 
going to have to work through how we try to address both of those 
concerns."This decision, like many in the state after the Governor's orders have changed, will likely be different in each district."A
 lot of the actual implementation is going to have to be at the local 
level," Tallman said. "I think we could see variations. We, of course, 
saw some of that just in the continuous learning plans. What ability did
 a district have to get internet-based instruction to all of its 
students? Some had very little difficulty doing that. Everyone had some 
struggles. In other districts, it was a much greater challenge."Economics
 were an issue in getting online curriculum delivered, so what sorts of 
flexibility districts will have will be important.

Tallman: 'Everyone is hopeful that schools will reopen'