Are Schools Getting Back To Normal?

With daily COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations trending down, Hamilton County Schools are re-opening campus to near-normal operations ...

BY TIM HENSLEY

Beginning Monday, August 31, Hamilton County Schools will follow the Phase 3 schedule, which will mean that schools will be open five days a week for on-campus learning and follow the normal bell schedule. Some schools may experience temporary building closures, which will require remote learning if there is a confirmed COVID-19 case.

The Reopening task force established gating criteria based on data from the Hamilton County Health Department to determine the operational phases of in-person instruction in schools.

The school year started on the Safe Start, Great Start schedule that provided an early schedule for the opening of schools for parents, students, and staff.

All schools will follow the Phase 3 schedule with schools open five days a week for all students opting for in-person learning in the classroom beginning August 31.

Safe Start, Great Start was announced on August 3, to provide planning time for parents and staff and to ensure schools opened safely. The Safe Start Great Start was a hybrid instruction model with a limited number of students on campus during the week. The Safe Start, Great Start schedule will continue through Friday.

The new schedule for August 31 is based on the current five-day average trend of 1515 active cases according to data provided to the district by the Hamilton County Health Department. The case total falls within the transition band of Phase 3.

There are several factors the district considers when the numbers fall in the transition area, including the average number of positive cases in the community, the average daily number of hospitalizations, and the average daily number of patients in ICU.

Currently, daily cases and hospitalizations are trending down, while the average number of ICU patients is holding steady. Since July 2, when the Task Force presented the initial reentry and continuous learning plan to the school board, active cases have not reached the Phase 2 threshold.

The highest five-day average was 1628 from July 21-July 27. All schools will follow the Phase 3 schedule with schools open five days a week for all students opting for in-person learning in the classroom beginning August 31, and the schedule will run until Friday, September 11.

The district will continue to track the latest COVID-19 data from the Hamilton County Health Department to determine if a phase change is needed. The schedule for September 14 through September 24 will be announced on Friday, September 4, due to Labor Day falling on Monday, September 7.

Moving the announcement to Friday will allow families a little more than a week’s notice if there are any changes needed to the on-campus learning schedule.

School-Aged Child Care (SACC) sites will return to the regular schedule of providing before and after school care during the five-day a week instruction in Phase 3.

The schedule change for on-campus learning does not affect HCS at Home or Virtual School students. Those students will continue to learn virtually from home.