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DeWine Says He Expects Ohio Students Will Be Back In Class This Fall

An empty elementary school classroom in Westerville. It's expected classrooms will have to be reconfigured if students will return to school buildings for the '20-'21 school year.
Karen Kasler
An empty elementary school classroom in Westerville. It's expected classrooms will have to be reconfigured if students will return to school buildings for the '20-'21 school year.

Ohio’s K-12 schools are winding down their remote classes to end this unusual year. And Gov. Mike DeWine says he and school leaders are making plans for returning to in-person classes after summer break.

Ohio was the first state to close K-12 schools, on March 11. That started as a three-week shutdown that got extended to May 1, and then in-person classes were canceled for the rest of the school year.

In an interview for "The State of Ohio" for later this week, DeWine said while the future is still uncertain, right now the plan is for students to return to school buildings and classrooms in August.  He said he discussed it with a group of superintendents last week.

“They'reallplanningtogobackinthefall.WhatI'veaskedthemalltodoistokindofcomeupwiththeirplans,theirbestpractices," DeWine said.

He added: “Inherently,whenyouputthatmanykidstogether,you'regoingtogetspread.But there'swaysofdoingitwherepeopleareverycareful.Andsothat'swhatschoolsaredoing.They'replanningonthatnow.We'regoingtojusthavetoseewherewearewiththisvirus.”

The Ohio Department of Education has a draft plan that includes required face masks for students and school personnel, hand sanitizing stations, no visitors, PPE for nurses and daily at home temperature checks. The plan also suggests possible scheduling options such as half-days or classroom days alternating with days for learning at home.

Copyright 2020 The Statehouse News Bureau. To see more, visit The Statehouse News Bureau.

Karen is a lifelong Ohioan who has served as news director at WCBE-FM, assignment editor/overnight anchor at WBNS-TV, and afternoon drive anchor/assignment editor in WTAM-AM in Cleveland. In addition to her daily reporting for Ohio’s public radio stations, she’s reported for NPR, the BBC, ABC Radio News and other news outlets. She hosts and produces the Statehouse News Bureau’s weekly TV show “The State of Ohio”, which airs on PBS stations statewide. She’s also a frequent guest on WOSU TV’s “Columbus on the Record”, a regular panelist on “The Sound of Ideas” on ideastream in Cleveland, appeared on the inaugural edition of “Face the State” on WBNS-TV and occasionally reports for “PBS Newshour”. She’s often called to moderate debates, including the Columbus Metropolitan Club’s Issue 3/legal marijuana debate and its pre-primary mayoral debate, and the City Club of Cleveland’s US Senate debate in 2012.
Karen Kasler
Contact Karen at 614/578-6375 or at kkasler@statehousenews.org.