TOLEDO, Ohio — The school year just started for Toledo Public Schools, but leaders are already looking at how soon they could get back into the classrooms.
However, they've made clear that there are multiple things that need to be considered before that happens.
Thursday's news of Lucas County downgrading from Level 3 (Red) to Level 2 (Orange) in the state's Public Health Advisory System is good news for the district.
"We have somewhat of a deadline on October 1, and weeks before that to make a decision on what we're going to do athletically and potentially phase in grade levels at a particular time," TPS Superintendent, Dr. Romules Durant said.
TPS leaders said that it's too soon to tell what the downgrade might mean for the district and its students returning, but leaders are taking multiple things into consideration.
"We'll look at all the data, all the health data. We'll actually look at what some of the other districts are doing, some of those types of things to see how they are reacting and how that's going from that perspective as well," TPS Deputy Superintendent, James Gant said. "We'll take a lot of things into account, but really we need to get kids in school as quickly as possible."
They said they will do everything they can as a district to return as soon as possible, but safety is a top priority.
"The main thing is making sure that we get our rates in a way that makes it viable so we're not being part of the spread, but part of the solution," Durant said.
We will keep you updated when the next steps are confirmed.