Schools wait on fifindings from COVID- 19 panel

City Schools of Decatur is planning to use a fifinal report from its COVID- 19 Stakeholder Planning Committee to help determine when district students can return to the classroom.

It’s still undecided on a release date for those fifindings, but in a recent interview Superintendent David Dude indicated it should happen before Thanksgiving.

Earlier this month the school board delayed in- person learning to “a date to be determined, no earlier than Jan 5.” Out of 181 Georgia school districts, CSD i s one of several ( the precise number is uncertain, possibly a dozen), including Dekalb County and Atlanta Public Schools, still 100% virtual.

Besides waiting on their report, CSD is asking the community to choose one of four preferences: 1) I’d like my child to return in person; 2) I want to remain virtual; 3) I’d like to return in person but can remain virtual i f needed; 4) I’d like to remain virtual but can return in person.

During the last two board meetings ( in October and on Nov. 10) roughly 70 parents have delivered often scathing public comments, with opinions nearly split down the middle between favoring in- person or virtual learning.

“Whatever plan we make, we will still have an option for people who want to stay virtual,” Dude said. “That is, students will have a choice once we decide to go back in person. But staffff is not so clear cut. For the most part we need our staffff [ returning in person] in order to provide our services. We need to work t hrough t he accommodations for those [ staffffffffffffers] who can’t come back.”

He added that most teachers favor returning, including those who were initially on the fence but have since been approved for additional classroom accommodations like protective equipment and plexiglass.

“We’re down to maybe five teachers who have a medical need that precludes them from being i n person,” Dude said. “Those are t he ones t hat we will try to fifififigure out how we can keep virtual full time [ through the pandemic], but it’s a fairly small number.”