WISCONSIN (NBC 26) -- A state education official expects that schools will re-open in the fall.
But there still remain many questions about how school districts across Wisconsin will prepare to let students and staff into schools come September.
After classes were abruptly put on hold in mid-March due to the pandemic many school districts were optimistic that it would just be a matter of time before they could welcome back staff and students.
"I think we were hopeful after the shutdown initially came out but as it progressed, it was pretty inevitable that that was how things were going to wrap up," says Menasha's Superintendent of Schools Chris VanderHeyden.
VanderHeyden says while classes didn't resume for the 2020 school year, his district is already preparing for potentially opening in the fall.
"We're all pretty much in a place where we would love to get back to business as usual but we're all pretty certain that it is not going to look like exactly what it did look like when we shut down back in March."
School districts across the state are currently working with CDC guidelines, parent's feedback and city health officers to plan out the safest ways to bring students back. But, one of the challenges is how do they do that without piling kids into crowded buses.
"Using guidance that is out there we can maybe get about one-third of the kids that we put on a bus right now. There is no way for us to transfer enough kids in a timely manner," adds VanderHeyden.
Another challenge is when students do arrive back to class, school leaders have to consider scattering their arrival times or potentially what days students will be allowed to come back to class.
"There are other options that are out there to do like a morning session and an afternoon session or to do a partial day," adds VanderHeyden.
And as many students look forward to the chance to get back to class, many districts are already discussing how a mixture of in-person teaching and virtual learning might be the norm as classes resume in the fall.
"We're trying to figure out ways to get kids some face to face instruction but yet keeping the numbers down on any given classroom or space at any given point in time," says VanderHeyden.
Next Monday the State Department of Public Instruction is set to put out guidance for reopening schools across the state.
