The South Bend School Board has approved the back to school plan it had been debating for weeks.
In a special meeting Monday night, the board approved the plan 5-2 that begins sending students back as early as the week of Monday, October 5.
The CTE students and special education students will be in-person beginning October 5th.
The next group to return to the classroom will be the transition grades of kindergarten, 6th and 9th grades beginning October 7th for students with a last name beginning in A-K, and L-Z October 8.
The majority of students begin October 14 with a hybrid model. Students with last names beginning A-K in grades K-2 and 6-12 will return to class.
The following day, students in those grades with last names M-Z will return.
The full hybrid model begins October 19. At that time, A-K students, pre-K through 12, will attend Mondays and Tuesdays. M-Z students will attend class Thursday and Friday. Wednesday will be a virtual day for the entire district.
Parents do have the option of remaining virtual for the full year.
The district conducted a survey of parents and found that they overwhelmingly want their kids to return to the classroom.
St. Joseph County’s coronavirus metrics have been on the rise, but the district said Deputy Health Officer Dr. Mark Fox gave their plan a thumbs up last week.
