Highland school officials are continuing discussions on what the Return to Learn plan will look like in the fall.

While much of the planning is guesswork while schools await guidance from state officials, conversations have outlined a litany of options for the coming academic year.

Superintendent Ken Crawford said an in-person return to classes was a clear preference of the community after a survey of 176 district families found that 87% of students would prefer to “return to school as normal,” and that only half “have decent internet.”

Crawford said he didn’t think hybrid options for returning to class were feasible.

“I want it to be off the table, but we leave it up to the state,” Crawford said in an interview after the school board’s Monday retreat meeting. “If the governor comes out and says 50% capacity, we’ll have to do that, but the logistics for the families, for the staff, it would just be so much.

“(An all-virtual approach) is a second option, but it’s a distant second. For the first time in forever, all the kids actually want to go back to school.”

Six planning teams are hashing out the details for separate areas of academic life.

Those areas are leadership, infrastructure, health and safety, equity, data considerations, and “social-emotional-behavioral health,” according to a packet provided at the meeting.

While the teams are flush with ideas, Crawford said detailed plans wouldn’t be unveiled until early August.

“I feel like we’ve got a very good structure, but I know things are going to change,” Crawford said.

While nothing is set in stone, several ongoing conversations have brought to light the logistical concerns of returning to school during a pandemic.

Transportation is an obvious hurdle given the inability to socially distance on limited school buses.

Some proposed solutions include loading the back of the bus first and assigning families to certain seats on buses.

Crawford said requiring bus drivers to take students’ temperatures wasn’t feasible but requiring them to be taken at home before boarding was on the table.

Another difficult issue will be masks in school.

Schools would not be allowed to mandate use of facemasks because asthmatic students would be unable to comply, but staff or students with parental permission could likely choose to wear their own.

This list of issues is hardly exhaustive.

The packet also noted attendance policy, lunch areas and custodial practices as obvious areas needing updates for the sake of public health.

Crawford said he hoped to receive state guidance by early August but would be hesitant using any information that came much sooner, given the ever-changing nature of Iowa’s COVID-19 policy.

“Aug. 1 is when we’re shooting to know what the state will let us do, and then we can finalize our plan,” Crawford said. “We need to hear from the state early in August, but I wouldn’t trust the state on July 15.”