Kemp, state officials want to see in-person classes at Georgia schools
Gov. Brian Kemp and leading Georgia health and education officials want children sitting in classrooms for their first day of class, citing the benefits of in-person learning and comments from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield about reopening schools.
But Kemp said he hasn’t given thought to making in-person instruction mandatory statewide.
“I wouldn’t really want to speak to that. I haven’t really thought about that,” he said. “I think schools are trying to do the right thing and it’s just my hope that we’ll get kids back in the classroom.”
Earlier this week, the state’s education and public health departments issued guidelines for local districts across the state. Schools will be required to ask teachers, staff, and students to stay home if:
- they test positive or show COVID-19 symptoms
- they recently had close contact with someone who had or has COVID-19
Schools will keep a log of those who miss school or were sent home with symptoms. They’ll be allowed to return after meeting requirements established by the state health department.
Those differ depending on someone’s status, but the infected person will be at home for at least 10 or more days. Other guidance in the document from the state is not mandated or required, and local districts have the ability to implement more stringent requirements.
“Relationships are better formed in person once they are in school,” said state school superintendent Richard Woods. “But ... the safety of students and staff will continue to take precedence in all of our decision making.”
State health officials ‘fully expect’ teachers, students to get sick
State health commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey said state officials “know and fully expect” for students and teachers to be infected, but the state is working to provide resources needed to protect individuals. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states children “do not appear to be at higher risk for COVID-19 than adults.” Adults, the agency reports, make up most of the known cases to date.
A study recently published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine states children ages 18 and under are “at low risk” for serious long-term consequences or death from contracting COVID-19. But “there is insufficient evidence with which to determine how easily children and youth contract the virus and how contagious they are once they do.”
The knowledge gap “makes it extremely difficult for decision-makers to gauge the health risks of physically opening schools and to create plans for operating them in ways that reduce transmission of the virus.”
“I think kids need to be in the classroom and there’s a safe way to do that,” Kemp said. “I understand the concerns from parents. I understand the concerns from teachers. ...We’re gonna have cases break out in the schools either with personnel or perhaps students just like you do with a stomach bug or a flu. Our schools know how to handle those situations.”
The state emergency management agency has distributed of two million cloth masks and 3,000 non-contact, infrared thermometers, and a second shipment of various protective equipment including hand sanitizing stations will come, said Homer Bryson, Director of the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency.
To support virtual learning, state officials have allocated $3 million to purchase 3,000 WiFi transmitters for local districts. The initiative is estimated to bring internet access to 135,000 Georgia students, Woods said.
School districts differ in plans
Some of the state’s largest districts, including Cobb and Fulton, have opted for digital-only classes to start the new year. The Bibb County School District delayed the first day of school until Sept. 8. Two weeks before then, the district will announce whether it will hold in-person or virtual classes.
The Houston County School District pushed the start of classes to Aug. 6 and will hold high school classes from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., a six-period day. The change will allow separate bus routes for elementary, middle and high school students.Here are some additional elements of the plan:
- Students will be kept in separate cohorts for lunch and recess as much as possible
Schools will have thermometers to take the temperature of anyone with symptoms
Parents must keep children at home if they’re sick
No field trips
Buses will continue to run, with buses sanitized regularly and sanitizing equipment available
Additionally, the district said it would move to exclusive virtual learning if required to do so by a “rise in outbreak.”
This story was originally published July 18, 2020 at 7:00 AM.