At Monday night’s Habersham Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Matthew Cooper assured the public rumors that Habersham County Schools would close early for winter break due to climbing COVID-19 numbers are false. Cooper says the school system plans to finish out the rest of this week as scheduled.
There are currently 36 active student and staff COVID cases spread among eleven of Habersham’s fourteen public schools. The only schools that do not have active cases are Baldwin and Clarkesville elementary schools and the Success Academy, according to data on the county school website.
Last week, there were 105 Habersham students in quarantine at home due to possible exposure outside of school and 97 students quarantined due to possible exposure at school. Twelve Habersham school staff members were in quarantine, but none of them were reported to have been exposed to the virus at school.
Cooper’s announcement comes on the heels of a decision made Monday by the Hall County School System to move all of its in-person high school and middle students online for the remainder of this week.
“I’m very firm in my belief that school is the best place for most students,” Superintendent Cooper said. “It remains the best place for most students. Yes, the number of positive tests has increased here lately, [but] school is still the best place for most students.”
Friday is the last day of class for most schools in Georgia before they close for Christmas break.
Other Habersham BOE news
During Monday’s meeting, the Habersham County Board of Education unanimously approved the purchase of 2,500 new Chromebooks. These Chromebooks will replace Chromebooks that are now outdated and will not be available to students until next school year.
“I’m going to say right up front that we aren’t buying these Chromebooks to go virtual after January the first,” Chairman Russ Nelson said. “They wouldn’t be here in time anyway.”
The computers and 83 charging carts will cost the school system $734,396.
In other business, the school board approved two Future Farmers of America (FFA) field trips, an ESPLOST expenditure reclassification to help restore the school system’s general fund, and repairs to the athletic fieldhouse roofs at North and South Habersham Middle Schools. Those projects will be paid for with ESPLOST funds. The board also reappointed Clarkesville attorney Jennifer Thacker to serve as the board’s attorney next year.
