About 2% of students enrolled in the DeKalb County School District will not return to in-person learning when classes start next month.

As of Monday, 1,533 students have requested access to the district’s virtual learning options for the 2021-22 school year, Chief Academic Officer Stacy Stepney told DeKalb school board members during their meeting.

As of March, DeKalb schools had 92,353 students enrolled, Georgia Department of Education data shows. The new school year begins Aug. 2.

Each DeKalb student was enrolled by default for in-person learning, and the deadline for parents to opt-out of that choice was July 2. DeKalb County schools will offer both in-person and remote learning options for students. The district will expand its FLEX Academy, its virtual learning platform, to middle and high school students.

It also plans to offer school-based virtual learning classes for elementary school-aged children taught by teachers at their schools or other educators across the district. Parents will have the chance to switch to in-person learning or continue with remote learning in November.

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