PENDLETON — Public schools in South Madison County are working on plans to start the new school year, with more details expected in coming weeks.

South Madison Community School Corp. Superintendent Mark Hall sent a letter to students and parents on Friday about the strategy to resume in-person classes for the 2020-21 school year.

“Indiana state leaders and health officials have stated it is now appropriate to reopen schools,” Hall stated in the letter. “As such, South Madison Community School Corporation is planning to resume in-person classes five days a week beginning on Aug. 6, 2020. It is our intention at this time not to alter the traditional school calendar.”

In-person classes were halted during the outset of the coronavirus pandemic in March. The 2019-20 school year was finished virtually, as it was in most school systems across the state and country, with an e-learning calendar.

According to the letter, the corporation is working on a comprehensive re-entry plan with various stakeholders, including Madison County Health Department.

“It is our goal to create a plan collaboratively that is based on the level of COVID-19 spread present in our school community,” Hall wrote. “We want to have multiple options available in our plan based on the current level of spread, so we can react incrementally instead of just being either open or closed. Our planning includes providing a virtual option for the upcoming school year for students who do not wish to return.”

The detailed plans are expected to be completed in mid-July, he said.

“Things are going to look different,” Hall said. “We’ll put together a plan with multiple options and adjust our plan accordingly. It’s hard to say a month ahead what school is going to look like, but we want to give people some direction.”

The state released a broad set of re-entry guidelines, called Indiana’s Considerations for Learning and Safe Schools or IN-CLASS, that offers guidance on a wide range of topics, from reviewing liability insurance coverage to proper social distancing. In general, the guidelines envision a greatly altered landscape in the schools.

Beginning on July 6, Hall’s letter stated, students will begin returning to campus on a limited basis for extracurricular activities. Protocols for the early returns were developed from the Indiana Department of Education, Indiana High School Athletic Association, Indiana State Music Association, and state and local health officials.

On the school’s athletics website at gophhsathletics.com, high school athletic director Chad Smith posted guidelines for return that included daily strength and conditioning schedules for all Arabian athletic teams.

Student-athletes are given specific times, depending on the school team they are on, to arrive for strength and conditioning workouts.

The athletic department formed a Return To Play Committee (RPC) to develop a three-phase plan that would allow a safe return to activity for student-athletes at Pendleton Heights.

The initial phase is from July 6-19. All phases encourage social distancing and face coverings (if doing so is not a health risk).

Phase II is broken down into two sections, one for normal summer workouts (July 20-Aug. 2) and an IHSAA season (Aug. 3-14).

Phase III is when IHSAA fall sports competitions begin, Aug. 15.

Links to details of the student-athletes return are available on the school’s athletics website.

At Lapel schools, Frankton-Lapel Community Schools Superintendent Bobby Fields said a plan to return to in-person school for the 2020-21 school year will be released to the public early next week.

At the most recent board meeting on June 11, the board approved dates for new student registration, by appointment, and dates for Chromebook pick-up, though Fields noted the in-person meetings could be altered.

Fields said if the school is not back to a traditional style of education, due to COVID-19, Chromebook pick-up would be done by a drive-through method, similar to how the Chromebooks were collected at the end of the school year.

A resolution for suspension of school board policies conflicting with waivers or extensions during COVID-19 pandemic was approved at the meeting.

“It gives the superintendent flexibility,” FLCS attorney Mike Lacey said. “Let’s say something happens and there’s an outbreak and we don’t have policy for that. He can make the decision and inform the board.”