Savannah Chatham County Public Schools is considering an online-only learning format for the fall in light of the recent surge in coronavirus cases in the state and abroad.
On Friday, the school system's superintendent Ann Levett sent a letter to teachers regarding the plans to start the school year virtually due to concerns about keeping the staff and children safe, according to the Savannah Morning News. Levett has received phone calls and letters from concerned parents about the reopening plan for public schools in the county, where COVID-19 cases have recently spiked.
“The recent spike in positive COVID-19 cases reflects infections of neighbors, family members, and friends and led to closings of businesses, services, government offices, and permanent closings of some of our favorite places. The increase is alarming. Information about how the virus is transmitted can change and grow at unbelievable speed- often by the hour or day,” she wrote in the letter to staff. “Please know that we continue to work closely with the local Department of Public Health to monitor the status of our community’s public health.”
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The current state of the outbreak has prompted Levett to recommend that the system offer a digital learning format for all students when school starts back this fall. The school system has opened an E-Learning School, has a new learning management system and nearly 14,000 Chromebooks available for use to facilitate an online learning experience for the fall. To allow for sufficient professional development time for online teaching, Title IX, social-emotional learning and the new learning software, the school system would likely make adjustments to the school year calendar, according to the letter.
Levett said the plan will be presented to the school board on Thursday, July 16.
“We know that choosing how staff and students will participate in school this year is an important and complicated decision that impacts many areas of our lives. SAFETY is the priority,” Levett said in the letter. “While it may be disappointing that we cannot start school in the ideal mode we prefer, we can get there if we all work toward the goal of improving our community’s health.”
Pressure is mounting across the state as districts consider how to safely reopen school buildings. While working parents may not have the flexibility for digital learning only, some have that as an option and are advocating that schools keep children home this fall.
The American Academy of Pediatrics is calling on schools to bring kids back in-person, but only if they can do it safely, according to a previous report by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Sara “Sally” Goza, the Georgia doctor who is president of the group, said told the newspaper Wednesday that children tend to get infested less and suffer less extreme symptoms.
“Schools will need new resources to keep students, teachers and staff safe. I am very concerned by recent statements from federal leaders threatening to withhold federal funds from schools that do not pursue in-person reopening in the fall.”
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