Henry County Schools will begin holding in-person classes at the end of the month for the roughly one-third of students who say they want to go back to brick-and-mortar schools, the district says.
Beginning the week of September 28, about some students in the district will meet for two days of orientation at their schools, officials said.
The school system conducted a survey earlier this month and found that 34% of students wanted to return to school while the majority of the remaining learners elected to continue their education virtually.
On Oct. 5, pre-K through eighth grade students will go back to class five days a week. High school students will meet two days a week at that time and learn virtually for the remainder of the week.
“We are pleased to be able to provide this option to all of our families,” Henry County school board vice chairwoman Holly Cobb said of the return of some students to school. “There has been so much work that has gone into providing a safe place for students to return to campus, and we know our employees will be ready to welcome students back.”
Henry joins a growing number of metro Atlanta school systems that are allowing students to return to school through hybrid schedules that mix in-person instruction with virtual learning. Cobb, Fulton and Gwinnett, among other districts, have either already started hybrid schedules or plan to implement them in the coming weeks.
Henry leaders said high school students will eventually return for in-person classes five days a week, but had not determined a date for that yet.
“There were voices from all across our district and community that contributed to the opportunity to once again provide a choice for families,” Superintendent Mary Elizabeth Davis said. “In tandem with these voices, our communities improving health metrics give us great hope that we will be able to sustain our options for families.”
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