Macon County is going halfway back to school on Aug. 17.
The Macon County Board of Education has finalized details of its hybrid 2020-21 fall semester. Half of the students will attend in-person instruction on Monday and Wednesday while the other half take remote lessons, then the two groups will switch on Tuesday and Thursday. All students will take virtual lessons on Friday.
Parents also have the option to enroll their student in full-time virtual learning if they don’t feel comfortable sending them into school Parents who chose this option in the recent parent survey have registered their child for the virtual academy, but they can call their child’s school to change their mind.
The board reviewed results of a parent survey they sent out two weeks earlier. Based on replies from 3,314 parents representing 3,591 students, about a quarter of all students will be attending the virtual academy full-time. Most families surveyed had at least some access to reliable internet (84.7 percent) and at least two bars of cell phone service (79.2 percent) at home to facilitate remote learning.
The board members feel cautiously optimistic about the beginning of the school year. While they hoped that they would be able to go back to school on time with minimal restrictions, they feel that enough work has been put in to give students the best experience inside and outside of the classroom. In any case, they’ve had five more months to prepare for the worst than they did when schools shut down in March.
“This time around, at least they’ll get to see someone in person on Monday and Wednesday or on Tuesday and Thursday to clear some things up,” said board member Fred Goldsmith.
STEM coordinator Jennifer Love, who conducted the survey, said teachers have been reporting positive results from their professional development sessions on online classrooms, although the field test will still be the most important gauge.
“They do feel much better when they leave us than when they came in,” Love said. “With that said, until you do it, until you have a class, you just don’t know for sure how it’s going to go.”
Still, teachers have mixed feelings about the return. Many of them are excited to go back to work after an extensive hiatus, but others are more concerned about the threat that the virus poses. Union Academy teacher Rachel Alford expects that teachers and students will need to overcome a learning curve to find the best balance of in-person and online instruction, but that things should stabilize given time.
“I’ve missed having their physical presence,” Alford said. “You can’t make sure they’re getting their work done as well from a distance, but other than that, I think this is just another adventure. We’ll get through it.”
Macon Early College teacher Gary Brown is still on the fence. On the one hand, he feels that the school system is still underprepared to welcome back students without large risks. He’d like to see more access to health care within the schools, particularly when it comes to testing.
“I wish we had a testing protocol, not just here but all over the country, to give our teachers and our families peace of mind,” Brown said.
However, he also understands the need to get kids back into the classroom as soon and as often as possible. As a former elementary school principal, he sympathizes with teachers at the lowest grade levels who will rely on their in-person days to get students started from square one.
“It will be important to see the kids again,” he said. “I can’t imagine being a kindergarten teacher and trying to teach someone to read from behind a screen.”
Franklin High School principal Barry Woody thinks that, at least from a logistical standpoint, the lessons that educators have learned over the next few months will go a longer way than people expect.
“I think we’re going to get through this OK,” Woody said. “We’re more prepared than people realize.”
In a similar way, parents have become more receptive, albeit out of necessity, to Plan B. Many are still figuring out how they’ll handle childcare on off days and what they need to do to guide their children through remote learning, but they’re glad that teachers will get to play a more active role in the process than they did at the end of last school year.
“It’s better than nothing, but it’s still going to be a challenge,” parent Lori Macumber said.
Parent Michaela Forester also sympathized with school officials having to come up with solutions to a difficult situation and said she’d be willing to try and work with them to get past the learning curve of the next few months.
“Nobody knows what to think yet,” Forester said. “We’re just going to have to take it day by day.”
Superintendent Chris Baldwin knows that no solution is going to be a perfect fit for every family. However, Macon County Schools has communicated extensively with families and tried to set up as many options as possible to make the new year easier for everyone involved.
“I’m not an epidemiologist,” Baldwin said. “I’m not a coronavirus expert, therefore I have to rely on other health experts to guide our decisions. … We will do what is in the best interest of our students and we will do what is in the best interest of our teachers.”
Perhaps the brightest silver lining of all is that after everything that’s happened, students are actually thrilled by the prospect of returning to their classes.
“I’m excited to go back to school,” said rising sixth-grader Samantha Ensley. “It’s been long enough.”
The first day of in-person school will be Monday, Aug. 17 for students in Group A and Tuesday, Aug. 18 for students in Group B. Parents will hear from the schools in the coming days which group their child or children are in.
6 things to know about going back to school
1. Hybrid plan. Most students will go to school two days per week. Other days will use remote learning.
2. Virtual academy. Families can opt out of in-person learning entirely and enroll in a virtual academy.
3. Siblings will be grouped together for class and bus schedules.
4. Masks are required. Every child will be given five reusable masks and will be required to wear them or a face shield.
5. Temperature check. Students and teachers will have their temperature taken before entering school.
6. Breakfast and lunch will be served to students. On remote learning days, students will receive take-home meals on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.