South Bend Community School Corp.

Indiana schools are getting nearly $3 billion in federal coronavirus relief to help safely operate and make up for the instruction students missed out on. But public information on how local districts are spending it is inconsistent and often hard to find.

All students, teachers and visitors to South Bend schools will be required to wear masks under a coronavirus policy officials revised a week after requiring only elementary school students to wear masks.

Students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade will be required to wear masks indoors, while face coverings will not be required but strongly encouraged among unvaccinated staff and middle and high school students

Starting this fall, South Bend Community School Corporation teachers will work an additional 40 minutes on Tuesdays and Thursdays with no salary increase.

Social unrest after high-profile cases of violence at the hands of police have spurred ongoing debates about the role of law enforcement in communities. Now, school districts across the country – including some in Indiana – are reevaluating their relationships with school-based officers.

The Indiana Department of Education asked state auditors to review the enrollment at the South Bend Community School Corporation's Rise Up Academy following a complaint that students were not receiving an adequate education.

South Bend Community Schools got some of their buses outfitted as WiFi hotspots so they could be deployed during snow day e-learning this school year. When school was closed for the coronavirus, the buses were ready to roll.

U.S. Department of Justice officials are visiting multiple South Bend schools to investigate racial disparities in student discipline that leaves black students expelled and suspended at a higher rate than their white classmates.

The district's enrollment and a decrease in property tax revenue in 2020 are expected to tighten the district's financial position.

The plan aims to address enrollment drops and funding cuts by changing school start times, moving fifth grade classes back into elementary schools and closing three schools.