Southwest Georgia schools deal with COVID-19 as current surge continues

ALBANY — The latest surge of COVID-19 has impacted area school systems, with a return to virtual learning for some students, vigorous safety protocols for some and hybrid scheduling at some schools as they deal with high numbers of sick students and staff.

The Worth County School System plans to inform parents late this week whether its 3,100 students, who have been learning at home since Monday, will return to campuses next week as planned. A shortage of educators and bus drivers led to the decision to halt in-person learning temporarily, Schools Superintendent Nehemiah Cummings said.

“We’re still shooting for returning on Tuesday,” Cummings said of the return of students in Worth County. “I don’t want to say that’s a 100 percent decision right now. Our staffing levels are looking better and should be even better by then.”

Prior to students’ return, all buildings will be disinfected. The system recommends that students wear masks, but they are not required, in settings where social distancing is not possible.

Students also have been spaced out as much as possible, and large gatherings such as school assemblies have been either canceled or split into smaller groups. Athletic events will continue as scheduled, with social distancing encouraged, the superintendent said.

“We’re going to do our best to serve our community by trying to get school open again and keep students as safe as possible,” he said.

Lee County Schools moved from in-school learning for all of its students to virtual learning off-campus last week as some 839 students and staff were quarantined and 138 tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

In Colquitt County, C.A. Gray Junior High and Willie J. Williams Middle School, which each have attendance of about 1,400 students, have been on a hybrid model since Monday. About half of the students attend classes on campus each day for in-person instruction, with the others remaining at home to work on prepared lesson plans.

The last weekly report from the school system from Aug. 30 indicated that 260 of 9,047 students had tested positive for the virus, as had 37 of 1,401 staff members, with most of the increase from the previous week coming from the two schools that were moved to hybrid scheduling.

School officials will make a decision next week on whether to return to full in-person instruction, said Angela Hobby, chief communications officer for the school system.

The Dougherty County School System, which requires face masks in buildings, will ratchet up its safety protocols with COVID-19 testing. Parents may opt out of the testing.

Testing will be conducted this week at Westover and Monroe comprehensive high schools and unrolled next week at Dougherty High School and the system’s magnet schools.

“The purpose of this testing is to identify asymptomatic, pre-symptomatic or mild-symptomatic and quarantine those individuals within CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines to help prevent the spread within our school system,” Dougherty County Schools Superintendent Kenneth Dyer said. The testing should “create a healthier environment in our schools.”

While it is a little early to tell whether the strict protocols are having a dramatic impact, “we are not seeing great numbers of cases,” Dyer said.

The school system reported that the number of active student cases was under 1.4 percent over the previous 10-day period. For the week ending Aug. 26, the system reported 124 positive cases among students and that 15 staff members had positive tests. The system had 333 students and 22 staff members quarantined.

A number of transmissions of the virus are occurring outside schools, so testing is another layer of protection for the system.

The school system, which has about 13,500 students, also checks the temperature of students and others entering school buildings, has installed virus-filtering air units in classrooms, has installed shields at desks and thoroughly cleans facilities each night.

“Masks are just one component of our (comprehensive) measures,” Dyer said. “All of these things work together to form an initiative. We think all of these things work together to provide better protection.

“I just know for us, because of the challenges we faced early on being the third-highest in the world per capita (for COVD-19 infections), we’ve been hypersensitive to the needs of our folks. We may be accused of doing too much. I’m fine with that.”

The superintendent said there has been some pushback from parents, but that’s to be expected with the wide variety of feelings people have about safety measures. The system makes decisions based on recommendations from the CDC, Georgia Department of Public Health and World Health Organization.

“There’s no way to make everybody happy,” Dyer said. “I get emails, I get visits, I get phone calls, and I try to respond to them all because I respect their opinions. I don’t mind listening to other points of view. I keep an open mind, but I fully focus on what’s best for our students and employees.”

Parents who have additional questions can contact their children’s schools or visit the system’s website. Most area school systems post weekly numbers of positive results for the virus online and also provide information about safety protocols that are in place.

Special Photo: DCSS