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Anderson Schools will start the year fully virtual, plan to head back to class around Labor Day

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ANDERSON — Anderson Community Schools is joining Washington Township by going 100% virtual for the start of their 2020-21 school year.

The school board voted unanimously Tuesday night to begin the year virtually, with the goal of returning to in-school classes on or around Sept. 9 or somewhere near Labor Day.

"It's hard for me to reconcile the fact that we're meeting in Zoom - and we're still taking precautions," Joe Cronk, interim superintendent for the district said during the school board meeting. "It’s hard to reconcile the safety of having 1,800 kids at Anderson High School while we still have an unpredictable virus floating around."

A second vote was also taken during the Tuesday school board meeting to allow fall sports and band to continue to function on a regular schedule. Board members noted that parents who are not comfortable with their children participating in these activities can still opt to keep them out for the time being.

READ | Washington Twp. schools going 100% virtual for start of 2020-21 year

Cronk says current IHSAA rules would allow them to continue having after-school and extracurricular sports.

“Sports would be relatively unaffected as long as the student is enrolled in an ACS School and taught by the ACS staff,” Cronk said.

Washington Township announced Monday that they would be going 100% virtual to start the 2020-21 school year. Their plan is to re-examine the state of COVID-19 in Indiana at each board meeting moving forward to determine what the next course of action will be.