Jun 04, 2020

Tallman: 'Everyone is hopeful that schools will reopen'

Posted Jun 04, 2020 4:30 PM
Mark Tallman, Kansas Association of School Boards
Mark Tallman, Kansas Association of School Boards

By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post

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.