The Troup County School System will give parents and students two options for the return to school — in-person learning or online learning — and will move the start date for students back one week.
During Monday night’s work session, the school system went over the school system’s options for back to school, including moving the start date for students back to Aug. 17. Students will get the opportunity to either take part in a traditional program, meaning normal, five-day-a-week in-person school, or the Troup County Virtual Academy, which is an online-only program. They will choose one or the other, as there is no hybrid option.
Monday’s meeting was Superintendent Brian Shumate’s opportunity to present the plan to the board and to the public, and the final plan is supposed to be released on Wednesday. The board will vote on it Thursday.
Once the plan is finalized on Thursday, parents will begin on Friday selecting whichever option they want — traditional learning or virtual learning. Shumate said parents will have one week to select whichever option they want.
Shumate said the one week later start date will allow staff members, who will still start on Aug. 4, a chance to get familiarized with the virtual learning system.
Shumate said TCSS will highly recommend masks or face coverings be worn by students, but they will not be required in school buildings. Masks will be required on school buses and the windows will remain open to circulate air. Every student will be given a cloth mask on the first day of school, and students and parents will be asked to keep up with that mask and clean it.
Community/staff surveys
The school system unveiled community and staff survey results during Monday’s meeting, which were used to create the plan.
There were 5,698 respondents to the community survey, and 68.8 percent wanted students to go to school in the fall. A majority of respondents, or 47.4 percent, preferred learning to be face-to-face, while 22.5 percent wanted hybrid leaning, meaning some mix of learning at school and at home. TCSS is not offering a hybrid model after considering it early on.
About a fourth of respondents with a student at TCSS, or 23.9 percent, preferred all at-home learning. Just over 5 percent of respondents did not have a student at TCSS.
Yolanda Stephen, public relations director for TCSS, said community survey responses allowed TCSS to get more specific for the staff survey. A total of 68.6 percent of employees said they preferred students to do learning at school, while 31.4 percent preferred learning at home.
Eighty-one percent of both students and staff members said they have reliable internet service at home.
Virtual Learning
The virtual learning programs will include synchronous and asynchronous programs for students. Synchronous means the activity will occur at a specific time, and asynchronous means not happening all at the same time.
For example, students in the virtual middle school or high school program will have a core class that they take each day Monday-Thursday with a synchronous schedule. Electives will be on Friday. Students will be required to attend to meet attendance requirements.
Specifically, those synchronous core classes will be the following: social studies (Monday), math (Tuesday), English Language Arts (Wednesday), Science (Thursday) and electives (Friday).
Students will also have asynchronous assignments throughout the week that will be required.
For elementary school students, there will be a.m. (9 to 11) and p.m. (1 to 3) times for synchronous programs. Asynchronous assignments will also be assigned throughout the week.
Shumate also said all teachers will need to be prepared in case of a need to move everyone to virtual learning. The school system is going to distribute Chromebooks for third through twelfth graders and is expected to purchase Chromebooks for students in kindergarten through second grade.
What if there’s a COVID-19 case?
Shumate said if a student or staff member tests positive for COVID-19, they will be required to quarantine for 14 days. Anyone in direct contact with that person will also need to isolate.
Shumate said a classroom may be shut down and cleaned for a case or two, but if cases continue to spread an entire wing of a school could be shut down. An entire school could be shut down if there are numerous cases, depending on the spread and contact.
Students will be encouraging to stay home if they have a fever of 100.4 degrees or higher or any COVID-19 symptoms. The students shouldn’t return to school unless they go three days without a fever without the use of fever-reducing medication.
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Penny Johnson said they are looking at ways to have a nurse at every school. Shumate said they have added five nursing positions that they are working through hiring now.
Students will also have to walk through body temperature detectors as they enter the school building. The scanners will check the temperatures of 70 students per minute.
Check back for more on this story.
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