All year long, Clayton County school officials had been firm about keeping classes virtual until positive COVID-19 infections dropped to 100 new cases per 100,000 residents.
But that changed when vaccines for the highly infectious disease starting rolling out, especially for teachers, the district said Monday during a board of education meeting.
“Initially when we made the decision that we would not be returning back based upon the data, we did not have the vaccine nor did we have our own vaccine rollout,” said Ralph Simpson, deputy superintendent of school leadership and improvement.
The comments were the first time Clayton school leaders explained their about-face on in-person learning since they made the decision to bring students back to classrooms earlier this month.
Pre-kindergarten to fifth-grade students will return to face-to-face instruction beginning April 14, first on a hybrid schedule and later on a five-day-a-week plan.
Clayton’s explanation also came as the board on Monday set Aug. 2 as the first day of classes for the 2021-2022 academic year, and May 24 as the last.
The early start date is a push to make sure the academic year ends before Memorial Day, district leaders said. But it also reflects apprehension over the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced leaders to delay the first day of school by a week last summer.
About 48% of the roughly 23,000 K-5th grade students have said they plan to return to school buildings, the district said. Parents of Pre-K to first-grade children were more evenly split on in-person and virtual learning, while those of older students wanted to keep their kids home.
Middle- and high-school students currently will remain all virtual.
The district reported new positive COVID-19 infections had dropped to about 151 per 100,000 residents as of March 27, down from an all-time high of 724 cases in early February.
Board member Mark Christmas opposed the return to in-person classes, arguing that the district was reneging on its promise to residents.
“We still get backlash because we said we weren’t going to do this until those cases were below 100,” he said, adding that students would only be in classroom for a month before the end of the school year May 25. “I just don’t think that’s a wise decision.”
About the Author
