Many Northwest Indiana school districts will seek waivers from the state after missing school days after the Aug. 11 widespread storm triggered more than 300,000 power outages, damaging many homes and some schools.
Courtney Bearsch, chief communications officer for the Indiana Department of Education, said Wednesday the DOE has been in contact with multiple superintendents and school leaders across the state over the past week.
She said the DOE reached out to districts where there’s been a countywide emergency disaster declaration, including many in Northwest Indiana. Officials in Lake and Porter counties have issued disaster declarations.
State law calls for students to spend 180 days in school but the DOE can approve a limited number of waiver days for schools that have been significantly impacted, she said.
“We know that instructional time really matters for a student’s long-term success, and first and foremost, we are working with our partners at the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents to encourage schools to prioritize these make-up school days in ways that make the most sense for their unique communities and circumstances,” Bearsch said.
Lake Central announced Tuesday that students will start school on Thursday.
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“Currently, the six days that school was cancelled have been added to the end of the school year. The state released the waiver application yesterday, and we applied last night to have all six of the days waived. We will update our families as soon as we know whether that request has been granted by the state,” the district said in a social media post.
Hobart Superintendent Peggy Buffington said Wednesday that students have missed eight days, so far.
“We will have to see what they will allow,” she said.
River Forest Superintendent Kevin Trezak said in typical snow school delays, the state encourages remote learning days but without power, Northwest Indiana students couldn’t receive online instruction.
“The most important thing for River Forest is to make sure we don’t miss education days for our kids. We’re doing our best to make up every day that we can,” he said. “We believe we have an obligation to meet 180 instruction days.”
In Portage Township, spokeswoman Melissa Deavers said the district hopes to start school on Tuesday.
She said the district will seek a waiver for missed time from the DOE.
The Duneland School Corporation will delay the opening of its schools until Monday because some are still without power and rural areas within the district are still recovering from the Aug. 11 storm.
In an open letter to the community, Superintendent Robert McDermott explained that power was finally restored to all of the district’s buildings on Tuesday, although internet access still isn’t reliable in all locations. In addition, there are still some families within the district who are without power and about 25% of the staff also doesn’t have electricity yet.
A number of bus drivers went out Tuesday in their personal vehicles to determine how safe the routes are for school buses. The stop areas were also checked. While the road conditions have improved, there were still hazards in a number of areas. There were 23 routes that were not passable and another 19 identified that had cautions, McDermott said.
McDermott said the school district will submit a waiver request to the Indiana Department of Education concerning the seven days missed due to the storm. He said he will let everyone know what the outcome is and if any days need to be made up, which would likely occur in the second semester.
Freelance reporter Jim Woods contributed.
Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter from the Post-Tribune.