As of Thursday, Sept. 17, 52% of students are on-campus learners while 48% of students are learning online in the district. 

That percentage could change soon.

For the second nine weeks, new changes to the learning layout are coming. Students may now switch from online to in-person or vice versa. Parents must submit the “Mode of Instruction” request through Skyward by Friday, Sept. 25.

“I’m super excited to be coming back so I can participate fully during jazz band and so my wifi doesn’t interfere with my ability to learn,” junior Harrison Murphy said.

Keeping everyone safe, and keeping exposure to a minimum, was essential for schools to remain open. Thankfully, early detection, tracing and quarantining has kept COVID-19 under control. 

“We did so with a balanced percentage of remote and on-campus learners, providing both groups with a quality educational experience,” Superintendent Dr. David Vinson said. “It has been a big success, and we are so grateful for your help in making it happen.” 

If the high school on-campus learning population exceeds an enrollment that would ensure adequate social distancing, the district will consider an emergency hybrid option to safely accommodate these students and allow a smaller number of students to be in school at a time. Hybrid instruction assigns students on-campus days and remote instruction days, on an alternating schedule, to allow for a smaller number of students on campus at one time.

“Keeping everyone safe, and keeping exposure to a minimum was essential for schools to remain open,” Dr. Vinson said.

Early planning, guidance and understanding of the expectations of remote and on-campus learning was beneficial in helping parents and teachers to make informed decisions for the first nine weeks. 

Senior Quinton Brown has been learning on-campus, but plans to change to remote learning.

“I’m changing to online because I only have five classes everyday and in each class we are doing everything online,” senior Quintin Brown said. “Another reason is so I can stay healthy and not get covid and also be able to do things throughout the day that I couldn’t do if I was at school.”

As of Thursday, Sept. 17, the school has had three people test positive and 39 people exposed and quarantined and a total of 140 students and teachers quarantined in the district. 

For more information about the district’s learning option plans, visit their Covid-19 website.