Habersham County public school students will return to school on Friday, August 21, and teachers and staff will return on Monday, August 3, according to the newly-revised calendar adopted by the board of education.
School board members voted unanimously to approve the revised calendar with the understanding that if things worsen with the county’s COVID-19 situation, further changes may be required.
The school reopening plan includes a virtual option for at-risk students and those whose parents do not want them to return to in-class settings. However, students choosing this option will no longer be enrolled in their school but rather, the newly-created Habersham Technology Academy. Any student choosing online learning will be required to remain in online classes through at least the end of the semester. Students choosing the virtual option will not be allowed to participate in sports and other extracurricular activities.
Parents choosing the online option must contact their child’s school principal beginning as early as 9 a.m. Monday, July 20, and no later than noon on Wednesday, July 29.
Teachers will be required to return to the classroom. Superintendent Matthew Cooper says school administrators will work with those who choose not to return to let them out of their contracts.
The school system will provide face coverings for students and staff but will not mandate they be worn. As of now there will be no COVID-19 testing in our school, says Superintendent Matthew Cooper.
Graduation
Habersham Central High School Class of 2020 graduation plan is set for 8 p.m. at Raider Stadium on July 31.
Graduates will be seated six feet apart in chairs on the football field during the ceremony and there will be fewer guests on the stage to comply with state social distancing guidelines.
Each student will receive four tickets to graduation. Families will be seated in groups of four. “You do not have to be socially distanced from your family members,” says HCHS Principal Jonathan Stribling, “you’ll be socially distanced from other groups.”
After the ceremony, graduates will be led off the field as a group and will return to the high school where they’ll reunite with family members. Family and guests will not be allowed onto the field after graduation.
Graduation practice will be staged in the gym on the mornings of July 30 and July 31. Students will be socially distanced during practice.
Senior Honors Day is canceled but HCHS will recognize student achievement during graduation practice. Parents who want to hear their child’s name called will be allowed to come into the stadium during practice on the morning of graduation.
Those students wising to take pictures in their cap and gown on the field at Raider Stadium will be allowed into the stadium on July 28 to do so.
The meeting is still underway and may be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoeO5i6Oz30&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR1LlIwZhMorw66NM6e3OdULfnIheKB8YRrMSektqripaCYW7NZ0Dt8rdVQ
