Students will have the option to return to Fannin County schools Friday, August 7, for in-person instruction, and masks will be optional for all students and personnel.
“Our desire is always to operate a traditional school with face-to-face,” Assistant Superintendent for Achievement & Governance Sarah Rigdon said. “We believe that our instruction is best in that way, and we believe that we’re providing our kids with not only the strong instruction of academic subjects, but we’re also teaching them a lot of other things in school as well.
“There is a hidden curriculum in schools, and that includes things like getting along with others, following directions, being part of a team, learning how not to get your way sometimes. There are great, great things that are taught in schools everyday.”
The decision to not require masks came after the system solicited survey responses from parents/guardians, faculty/staff and school governance teams through two surveys: Low to No Spread of COVID-19 and Mild to Moderate Spread of COVID-19.
Survey results for the low to moderate spread show that 83.3% of parents/guardians felt it was a personal choice to wear masks, while 81.5% of faculty/staff said the same. In the minimal to moderate spread survey, 74.4% parents/guardians felt masks were a personal choice, and 65.1% of faculty/staff felt the same.
Parents/guardians will need to provide masks for those students who choose to wear them.
Temperatures will be taken for all students, faculty/staff and parents/guardians in the morning as they arrive on campus, and anyone with a temperature of 100°F or higher will not be allowed to stay at school.
Hand sanitizer will be available to all children and adults before entering the buildings or as students board a school bus.
When possible, students will not change groups for instruction or movement between classes will be monitored.
This will look different for each school level.
In the elementary schools, teachers will move to the students instead of students changing classes. At the middle and high schools, students will change classes, however they will not be allowed to congregate in the halls. Where possible, class changes will be staggered or hallway traffic patterns will be addressed to encourage efficient movement and prevent over-crowding in the schools’ common areas.
When it comes to meals during the school day, each school will develop procedures to limit the number of students in the cafeteria at a time.
While the final plan for school buses is not finalized, students and drivers can expect for hand sanitizer to be available as they enter the bus. Bus routes and morning pick up times may be adjusted, but parents/guardians will be made aware of these changes before the first day of school.
Students will no longer transfer buses in the morning, because all buses will make a stop at all grade level schools. Each bus will be sanitized daily and ventilated to the extent possible.
The system is still making a decision on whether masks will be required on the buses.
Parents/guardians will be allowed to walk their child to class the first few days of school, however they will be required to wear a mask.
Parents can schedule meetings, including online, however each school will work to limit how many people enter the school.
“We want to keep the lines of communication strong, but we need to limit the number of people flowing into and out of the building each day,” Rigdon said.
The system will provide a second option, an online learning program, for families of Kindergarten through 12th grade students, including those with an Individualized Education Program (IEP). However, online learning will look different than the online learning students experienced when schools closed at the end of the 2019-2020 school year.
Those who wish to utilize the online program will be taught through a wholesale educational platform in their home using a school issued device. However, students will not attend face-to-face traditional school, utilize bus services or have meals provided by the school. The teachers for online classes will not be Fannin County teachers located within the schools.
“The online learning option will not look like online learning in the Spring of 2020,” Rigdon said. “Our teachers will be teaching face-to-face in the traditional school setting with the students who are in their assigned classes. Online learning in the spring was based on review, practice and extension of material the students had already been taught in the school year. The online option for this year will be wholesale instruction of new material since students were promoted during the summer. The content will be rigorous and it will be graded.”
The platform will provide instruction with the parent/guardian serving as a “learning coach.”
Students will spend the majority of their school day, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., engaged in learning.
Personnel will be assigned to check up on each online student’s progress an will make contact if they are not working or logging on daily.
Students who do not have WiFi at home will be issued a hot spot for the child’s device.
Those who chose to enroll in online learning will be allowed to participate in sports and extracurricular activities, unless the system receives guidance from GHSA saying otherwise.
Students can be enroll in online learning through July 20 by visiting the system’s website at www.fannin.k12.ga.us or calling the student’s school. If there is no answer at the student’s school, the Fannin County Board of Education can be contacted at 706-632-3771 between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Additional details are available on the system’s website.