July 16, 2020
By: Dwayne Page
What impact will the rising numbers of COVID-19 cases have on the scheduled start of school in DeKalb County on August 3?
Director of Schools Patrick Cripps and Attendance Supervisor Joey Reeder appeared on WJLE Thursday morning to address this question and many others.
If you missed the program or would like to hear it again click the link below
https://www.wjle.com/reopening-dekalb-county-schools
Although plans are for a traditional reopening of DeKalb County schools with students attending on campus August 3 parents may opt for remote learning from home for their children. Parents are asked to contact their child’s school weekdays from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. prior to July 22 if they want their child to participate in remote learning.
Cripps and Reeder took many call-in questions from listeners for almost 90 minutes during the LIVE radio program as they discussed the frameworks and protocols for the planned reopening.
Currently the number of COVID-19 cases in DeKalb County total 128 with 67 active as of Thursday, July 16. That is more cases than when schools were closed due to COVID in March.
Cripps and Reeder were asked what would be the COVID number to keep schools from reopening or having to close again
“We are not getting any guidance as far as when we need to shutdown from the state department. Our understanding is that it’s going to be up to individual school districts at this point,” said Director Cripps.
“Right now we are not determining the timeline or the numbers. The virus will determine when we close. We look at it a lot like the flu. We have closed schools several times the past few years because of the flu and its not always the number you have its what the trend is. Are the numbers still going up or are they coming down? The only (COVID) numbers we will probably have are community numbers in making our decision and that is an important factor. We probably won’t have school (COVID) numbers unless parents call us and say my child has tested positive for COVID because we won’t have names of kids with the virus and we are not going to close schools just because a few people on facebook say somebody has COVID. We must have confirmation from parents that their child has the virus. The bottom line is we can’t sit here and say we will close if we get five or ten cases in the schools. We can handle a case in an elementary school probably much better than at the high school because those children are self contained and we can shut that room down for two weeks and tell everybody to stay home and continue with the rest of the school (being open). That may or may not happen but it is a possibility. We can close district-wide or we can close one school or one classroom. The state has given us a lot of options but not a lot of help,” said Reeder.
Director Cripps is also appealing to parents for help.
“In the mornings we are asking parents to check their child’s temperature before sending or bringing them to school because if the child’s temperature is over 100.4 we ask that you keep that child at home. I know the first thing parents tend to want to do is give the child some Tylenol and see if he or she can make it through the day at school but please keep the child at home if he or she has a fever. We will work with parents on student attendance. We know we are going to have to be flexible and we want to work with families in this process but to keep students, faculty, staff, and bus drivers safe, please keep your child home if he or she is exhibiting any COVID symptoms because that is the great thing about our plans to provide every student a 1:1 device. With that computer, your child can still log on to that classroom for that day and still get their education,” said Director Cripps.
One caller asked if she could re-evaluate sending her child back to school later after opting for remote learning to begin the school year.
“What we would like to do is do it (re-evaluate) at grading periods like every nine weeks or every semester. If they are allowed to go in and out too often it would be cumbersome for everyone involved but we will always work with anybody because we know situations change. There may be a situation where a family may choose to start out with remote learning for their child but if they (family member) later gets a job or for some other reason and don’t have anybody to stay with that child at home we will be flexible and work with you. We are here to educate and be accessible to you,” said Director Cripps.
Remote learning will be somewhat different than what parents and students experienced during the spring.
“Students will be given a schedule just like they were going to school in-house. The expectations are for them to get on their computer. They will be following that schedule throughout the day with their peers so there is an accountability. The state says we will educate six and a half hours per day and students will participate. They (state) want us to document how our school day is run and that is important because that is how we get our funding according to how many hours a day we put in, how many days we go and how many students attend,” added Director Cripps.