![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]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/feb02f7/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4000x3000+0+0/resize/840x630!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fimages%2Fnews%2Fnpr%2F2020%2F05%2F858299906_939448567.jpg)
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're all planning to go back in the fall. What I've asked them all to do is to kind of come up with their plans, their best practices," DeWine said.
He added: “Inherently, when you put that many kids together, you're going to get spread. But there's ways of doing it where people are very careful. And so that's what schools are doing. They're planning on that now. We're going to just have to see where we are with this virus.”
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.
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