For the second time this week, the Hall County School District has moved thousands of in-person students online due to COVID-19 outbreaks in county schools.
Students at CW Davis Middle School, Cherokee Bluff High School, and Cherokee Bluff Middle School will switch to online learning on Wednesday, December 9. East Hall High students moved to remote learning on Monday.
According to Hall County Schools’ spokesperson Stan Lewis, Cherokee Bluff High has seen a “significant number” of student absences due to the virus. A number of positive cases were reported late in the day Tuesday. Although the surge is not directly tied to the middle school, administrators decided to temporarily close both schools because they share facilities.
CW Davis has seen an increase in staff absences due to the virus. School officials say it’s possible that “in a limited number of these cases, transmission occurred at school.”
The schools will be closed at least through this Friday, December 11. Students will have access to all their current classes through CANVAS. The schools will provide meals to students at home.
East Hall High moved to online learning on Monday. Students were expected to return to class there on Thursday, but school administrators extended online learning through the end of this week. The closures affect over 4,200 students and staff.
All of the closed school facilities will be deep cleaned to ensure a safe return for students and staff, says Lewis. Parents will be notified over the weekend whether remote learning will be extended into next week.
Post-holiday surge
The post-Thanksgiving holiday surge in schools was expected. Hall County is the Northeast Georgia county hardest hit by the virus. Habersham County is right behind it.
On December 8, eight of Habersham’s fourteen public schools reported active COVID infections. While the overall positivity rates remain low – there were 23 active student cases among 5,942 in-person students and 17 active staff cases among 1,094 employees – it’s difficult to know exactly how many students and staff are affected because the school system does not track quarantine data. Other area school systems, including Stephens County and White County, do provide that information on their public websites.
Now Habersham has requested updated quarantine information for Habersham Schools. Superintendent Matthew Cooper says he will provide it but adds, “This takes time and effort from our staff. We do not have a running total on quarantines that we can just pull up.”
According to Cooper, the day before Thanksgiving break was the single highest day for total positive cases in Habersham County Schools. On November 20, there were 42 active cases.
The recent rise in numbers has not changed how Habersham Schools are dealing with the pandemic. The school system has not shut down any schools or classes since reopening in September.
“In-person instruction has continued as scheduled,” says Cooper. The Board of Education does not require masks in schools, but Cooper says, “We continue to strongly recommend that students and staff wear a face covering.”
In the absence of mask mandates, the Hall County School District is also encouraging its students and staff to do what they can to mitigate the spread of the virus during “this critical time.”
Hall County Schools released a statement on Tuesday saying, “In order to ensure a safe and timely return to in-person instruction, all of us must do our part to socially distance, wear masks, avoid large gatherings, and take other precautions while off campus.”
