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Barrow County School System hopes you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We have almost made it through the first semester of this challenging school year, and we have about three weeks left to navigate before the winter break.
Barrow County has been in the red or significant spread level since Wednesday, November 25. When in the red or significant spread level, that means there are 25 or more new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 citizens over a 14-day average. You can learn more about our approach and the data we utilize here.
At this time, we are not planning a district-wide move to digital learning. Our goal is to keep students learning in-person as long as possible; we know that’s where students are most engaged and successful. To accomplish this, we may use targeted closures, as needed, based on the evidence and circumstances of each situation. This is based on CDC guidance for schools.
- We may see an outbreak at a school in which a class or grade level switches to distance learning for 3-10 days.
- A school might not have adequate staff due to illness or quarantines, and the school may close for a period of time.
- We may also consider utilizing a hybrid schedule to further reduce class sizes.
We understand that uncertainty and unexpected changes are challenging to deal with. We are doing our best to balance in-person learning while maintaining a safe environment for students and staff. When we developed our initial action plan in July, we planned to close school buildings if Barrow County was in the red/significant spread level for a sustained period of time (10+ consecutive days). We modified that original plan with a targeted approach to enable students to continue in-person learning, while also working to limit the spread of COVID-19. This modification was driven by the new guidance from the Georgia Department of Health and the Georgia Department of Education released on August 12, 2020.
As a reminder for students who are attending in-person classes and all staff members, please stay home if you:
- are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms,
- have tested positive or been diagnosed with COVID-19,
- are awaiting test results, or
- have been in close contact in the last 14 days* with someone diagnosed with COVID-19 or someone with COVID-19 symptoms who is waiting for test results.
With just a few weeks left before winter break, it is important that we all do our part to keep ourselves and others healthy. Remember to wash your hands, cover your face, and keep your distance so that we can Save Our School Year. Thank you.