By Zach Hester, Reporter • zach@southerntorch.com
DeKALB COUNTY, Ala. — According to a new statement from DeKalb County Superintendent Dr. Jason Barnett, DeKalb County Schools will transition to remote learning from Wednesday, December 16 through Friday, December 18.
Students will also participate in remote learning during the week following Christmas holidays, from January 4 through January 8.
For Dr. Barnett's full statement, please read below:
At this point, it has become necessary to transition to remote learning beginning Wednesday, December 16, 2020 through December 18, 2020 due to high absence levels of our faculty and staff and to ensure the well-being of our faculty, staff and students as we finish the Fall semester and ultimately through January 8, 2021.
Due to the increased cases we are experiencing following the Thanksgiving Holiday, I have great concern for COVID spread during the Christmas and New Years Holidays that are upcoming. This is a very special time of the year, and I know that many, like me, are looking forward to this special time. Students will remain on remote learning the week of January 4th through January 8th, where students will not come to campus, but have online assignments provided to them by their teacher(s) according to the DeKalb County Remote Learning Plan. Students will return to campus on January 11, 2020, which will be 10 days after the New Years Holiday in an effort to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and to bring awareness to individuals who may have been exposed or contracted the virus. Some points that were considered as it relates to this option:
It has been, and remains, my commitment to keep schools open for in-person instruction throughout the year. I believe that the hard work of our faculty and staff has proven that school can be a safe place during this time. However, at this time, we can not safely operate our day-to-day instruction and operations with the school personnel we have available and must transition to remote learning. It is my hope that this short-term interruption and transition to remote learning will support our long-term goal of ensuring in-person learning for the duration of the school year.