What’s next for school reopening? Reeves not impressed with some COVID-19 plans
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves will wait until after July 31 to make any broad rulings on the return of students to school during the COVID-19 pandemic, but he was clear again Monday that he expects school districts to get creative in their plans for the 2020-21 school year.
Madison County, one of the largest school districts in the state, announced last week it will delay the start of full on-campus learning until Sept. 3. Jackson Public Schools, the largest district in the state, plans to conduct only virtual classes for the fall semester.
Reeves hasn’t indicated what he sees as the ideal plan to submit ahead of the July 31 deadline, but he’s been emphatic that the the normal route isn’t an option.
“Some may not let kids back in their schools for a long, long time,” Reeves said. “I want to see what every school district does.
“(School districts) must be willing to innovate, think outside of the box. We can’t do things like we’ve always done. Apathy is the only thing that is off the table at this point. I’ll consider anything that slows the spread of the virus and gets us back to a more normal environment.”
The governor said he backs Mississippians’ long-held preference of local control of public schools, but he indicated that he and the state Department of Education will be willing to step in if 2020-21 plans aren’t deemed satisfactory.
“I’ve seen a number of district plans,” he said. “Some look very good, some do not.
“We’ll make decisions later this week or early next week on what we think the best course of action is. What we may find is that there are enough school districts that have strong plans in place that we don’t have to opine on it.
“Based on some of the anecdotal evidence, there appears to be a lot of work left to do in many of school districts based on the plans they’ve submitted.”
Reeves said he’d like to see online learning options for kids who may be more vulnerable to the coronavirus.
“I think many of our school districts will offer that for kids whose parents are at home and have the time and ability to makes sure kids are learning,” Reeves said. “But that’s not a particularly good option for kids across Mississippi who have two parents who work.
“I think we can be innovative, think outside of the box. I think we can develop a plan where every kid can see academic improvement in the fall of 2020, but we’ve got to be willing to think outside of the box.
“If your only option is, ‘when can I return to school in exactly the way I did a year ago with zero risk,’ then you may not be putting these kids back in school for the rest of their lives. That’s certainly not an option that makes much sense. We don’t have all the answers today, but we hope to lay out a plan where every kid can learn.”
Teachers continue to express concerns about the dangers of returning to the classroom. COVID-19 numbers in Mississippi are close to their highest point only a couple of weeks before many students are scheduled to return to school.
Reeves expects those teachers to show up for work.
“My impression is teachers have contracts and I presume teachers will certainly honor those contracts they’ve signed to get paid, if they’re able to do so,” Reeves said.
This story was originally published July 27, 2020 at 4:55 PM.
