By Aaricka Washington for Chalkbeat.org.
Broadcast version by Mary Schuermann for Indiana News Service

INDIANAPOLIS -- On a recent morning, several Wayne Township high school students missing class received wake-up calls. But it wasn't a teacher calling, or a counselor. It was school bus driver Erica Woods, working double duty as a case manager to support students.

She's part college-prep guide, part mom, and part cheerleader, even reminding them to breathe and drink water. "I need you to come to school every day," Woods told the students. "This is no joke."

To keep high school seniors engaged and on track to graduate amid the pandemic, Wayne Township officials turned to a previously untapped resource: hourly employees still on payroll, but with time on their hands because students had switched to learning virtually.

Woods is one of 17 classified employees, or hourly staff, who served as the primary liaison for about 900 of the Indianapolis district's seniors during eight weeks of virtual learning earlier this year. To safeguard against the pandemic, students learned remotely from Nov. 16 to Jan. 26.

District administrators said the experiment was so successful that it will continue with 10 employees, even though high schoolers have moved on campus two days a week.

Wendy Skibinski, Wayne Township's director of college and career readiness, said the district came up with the idea last summer after seeing the effects of high school students losing the in-person support they usually had.

"We had to think about how we were going to accelerate the class of 2021 and get them up to speed," Skibinski said. "All of the things that we typically would have done last spring, they missed out on all of that."

Wayne Township, like other districts, allowed younger students more in-person learning and social contact than older students got, because science points to COVID not spreading in elementary schools as much as it does elsewhere. Many high school students nationwide have received very little in-person instruction since the onset of the pandemic a year ago and have been socially isolated during a pivotal time in their lives.

From April to October last year, mental-health related medical visits increased among 12- to 17-year-old children by 31% compared with the previous year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Wayne Township recognized the stresses facing many high school students: jobs to support their families, parents who lost work, financial aid and college applications, resumes, mock interviews, and graduation - all without in-person help from overworked counselors.

Wayne's high school student-to-counselor ratio is 475 to 1. The American School Counselor Association recommends schools have a 250 to 1 ratio. Skibinski said the district couldn't afford to add more counselors in the middle of a pandemic.

District officials worried students would fall even further behind after Marion County ordered campuses to close in November.

At the same time, Skibinski said the district wanted to retain employees who weren't able to work in a virtual environment.

The district previously found creative ways to mobilize those workers. Last March, it assigned its bus drivers to distribute meals to students at more than 1,000 bus stops.

So last fall, Skibinski solicited volunteers among paraprofessionals and transportation staff and trained them in college and career readiness support, interpersonal skills, technology tools, the college-guidance software Naviance, and resource tools on Google Drive.

District officials wanted case managers to build relationships with students, address their basic needs, and make sure they had tools like technology, space, and an organized schedule. Case managers check on grades and make sure students complete their assignments. Sometimes they help them with classwork. Their responsibility has evolved.

"It really started to morph," Skibinski said. "Every day at 2:30, we would debrief. What are the kids asking for? What do they need? What do we need to provide more of?"

During the eight weeks of virtual learning, case managers earned their regular hourly wage. Now, as some of their previous duties have resumed with hybrid instruction, case management pays a $15 hourly stipend. Wayne Township, which is expected to receive nearly $16 million in its second round of COVID relief funding, approved $16,000 toward the program for the remainder of the school year.

Woods has resumed driving a bus, starting around 6 a.m. every day. In between picking up and dropping off students, she's checking her Galaxy 20 tablet for emails from students and calling students who may take evening classes. After work, she may spend a couple of hours checking and responding to student emails.

Last Saturday - when students were more reachable - she was online by 11:30 a.m., calling, emailing, and updating her color-coded spreadsheet with information on the 41 students she is responsible for.

"There could be maybe 10 to 15 doing magnificent," Woods said. "My focus is to make sure that the rest of them are coming along, making sure that their needs are met. I will ask them, 'Hey, can you do an assignment a day? This needs to be done before March.'"

Skibinski said the pandemic has been terrible for everyone, but Wayne Township's experiment has worked well enough to continue.

"We can't let COVID be the reason why we're not successful," Skibinski said. For students, "We're going to walk alongside you because our ultimate goal is for you to graduate, but also for you to do whatever it is your post-secondary goal was."

Woods, a grandmother of seven and a bus driver for 24 years, feels she's come into her life's work. She hopes now to earn a teaching credential.

"There's a need that needs to be met," Woods said. "I enjoy being around people. Helping has always been my passion."

Aaricka Washington wrote this article for Chalkbeat.org.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.


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Indiana is rolling out a series of new education laws aimed at helping students succeed in and beyond the classroom.

The changes affect everything from attendance and academics to teacher pay and cybersecurity.

Tami Silverman, president and CEO of the nonprofit Indiana Youth Institute, said lawmakers responded to schools' concerns about chronic absenteeism.

"It was exciting to see that the legislature was really listening to the schools," Silverman explained. "Because we've heard, and schools have said repeatedly, that chronic absenteeism continues to be an issue."

New laws require schools to clearly define excused absences, publish attendance policies and offer better student support. High schoolers can now earn an Enrollment Honors Plus seal, combining academics, life skills and work experience. Students who earn it will be guaranteed admission to Indiana's public colleges.

Some educators said the new requirements may strain already limited school resources, especially in smaller districts that face staffing or funding challenges.

Silverman noted the changes are designed to help more students succeed, by doing such things as streamlining applications for college admission, military financial aid and paid internship programs.

"This is really exciting because we do know that sometimes those application processes can be a barrier," Silverman observed. "We want to remove those by setting kids up for success in high school."

Other laws raise the minimum teacher salary to $45,000 dollars, expand access to paid internships and require math screenings in early grades. Cybersecurity upgrades will be phased in by 2027.


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Many Texas students lose nearly 40% of what they learned during the year on summer break.

A new program in Arlington is helping kids avoid the "summer slide" by engaging them with creative projects which extend into the new school year.

Monroe Farbes, a 16-year-old International Baccalaureate participant, recently landed at the top of Amazon's list of young adult poetry with her new book "All I Know." She said the goal she set for herself last summer was to learn how to publish a book.

"Choosing to learn something and creating a product based off of what I learned, it helped me to learn critical thinking skills, research skills, time management skills, communications skills that were really, really useful," Farbes explained.

The International Baccalaureate program aims to prepare students for the future with real-world skills, global awareness and a love for learning, not just memorizing facts. After writing her first 20 poems last summer, the program gave Farbes time during the school day to write 35 more and then complete the formatting, marketing and other challenges involved with self-publishing.

There are many ways parents can help students avoid learning losses over the summer, and the Texas School for the Deaf offered tips. They recommended kids get outside and away from screens and they suggested parents give kids everyday lessons, like asking them to estimate the final bill while grocery shopping.

Farbes encouraged other young people to take on creative projects and to be curious about the world around them. She noted by the time you get to the end of her book, you realize the main character does not know everything.

"And that's OK, she's figuring it out," Farbes stressed. "Sometimes all you know is that you are just on your process to figuring it out. But make sure you remember everything that you learn."

Farbes's collection includes insights into the complexities of biracial identity, the joys of summer and sisterhood and the challenges of gardening. Here she reads her title poem, "All I Know."

"Familiar with myself, is the greatest gift on the shelf. Comfort in my own skin, who I am within, is all I'll have in the end. In that end, past all time, will I still be able to look myself in the eye?"


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Proposed federal legislation would expand school choice options for families to send their students to private schools or home educate them and the move could affect Arizona's current scholarship accounts.

Public school officials are pushing back. While Arizona parents can already get reimbursed for private and homeschool expenses, the Educational Choice for Children Act would create a tax credit for a similar purpose.

Brian Jodice, national press secretary for the American Federation for Children, said the measure is not a voucher program but a donor-driven initiative to provide families with more schooling options.

"It doesn't impact state budgets. It doesn't impact the federal budget. It allows people to donate to these scholarship granting organizations and get a tax credit, so (it) incentivizes the donors to go do that, which we think is a good thing," Jodice explained. "It also incentivizes families to be able to go apply for it and let their students benefit from it."

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy said at least 138 million people nationwide could be eligible for the tax credit. States must opt in to participate.

Arizona public education officials have said its private school funding comes at the expense of K-12 schools. Demand for the program far outpaced what the state had budgeted in the first year alone and demand has continued to grow.

Maura McInerney, legal director at the Education Law Center, called the national program a tax shelter to benefit wealthy people at the expense of public schools.

"We've seen this occur in other states and there's no accountability for these dollars and how they're spent," McInerney pointed out. "The only criterion for receiving a voucher is actually a high family income limit. So essentially this money will potentially benefit students who are already in private schools."

The nationwide program would cost the federal government at least $100 billion per year.


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