On the same day the superintendent of the neighboring Gwinnett County Public School System announced Gwinnett students would begin the new school year with digital learning only, Hall County School District Superintendent Will Schofield said he wasn't ready to make such a recommendation.
At the beginning of the Hall County School Board work session Monday afternoon, Schofield instead read a public statement to board members.
"I would tell you how unprecedented these times have been and I have been a superintendent now going on 22 years and I've never done this before," Schofield said. "I think the times dictate this particular statement that I make tonight." [See the printed copy of the full statement in the box below.]
Schofield acknowledged that people continue to contract COVID-19 and many have become very ill. He also noted that keeping children out of in-person learning has been detrimental to students from a mental health and literacy perspective.
For now, the 2020-2021 Hall County School year is scheduled to begin for students on Aug. 12. Parents have an option of choosing in-person or online learning for students.
However, Schofield indicated in his statement he would make a recommendation to the school board "in the near future" for a final return-to-school plan.
With that, the school board heard from various district officials about guidelines for reopening school facilities, including cleaning procedures for school buildings and school buses, wearing of faces coverings (all staff must wear faces coverings and all students must have face coverings and wear them when practical) and operating procedures to make sure students are learning at a proper social distance in order to minimize the spread of the virus. The latest document, adopted on July 20, 2020, and other information is available at the Reconnect Hall webpage.
STATEMENT FROM HALL COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT WILL SCHOFIELD:
Good Evening,
To say that the last 5 months have been unprecedented, challenging, and anxiety-inducing for our community, nation, and world is an absolute understatement. Schools, their students and families, HCSD team members, and the working community have not been spared. The situation is changing daily and clear answers are few and far-between.
This health crisis has provided the nation I love with significant challenges AND a unique opportunity to come together, to see the best in each other, to lean on our neighbor, and to allow our neighbor to gain strength from us. In the past, similar crises shaped our country and brought out the best in us. While I have witnessed extraordinary examples of this, we live in a society where conflict is more common, with people “taking sides” instead of having conversations; extolling extreme panic or casting blame; or reverting to divisive rhetoric after each new event and news cycle. I continue to hope that our community may instead commit to listen and share, seeking to accomplish our common goal of what is best for our Hall County families. As an educator who cares deeply for boys and girls, their families, AND the compassionate adults who serve them, I know the following to be true:
1) Some people are getting sick, sometimes very sick from COVID.
2) There are ways we can slow the spread of COVID, including social distancing, practicing personal hygiene, contact tracing, sanitizing high touch surfaces and wearing masks when in crowded quarters. This is not political: It is the consensus of medical and infectious disease experts from around the world.
3) Children not attending school has occurred in widespread numbers and has come at an extremely high price regarding mental and physical health, literacy and numeracy (particularly for our most impoverished students), increasing suicidal ideations, diminishing career and college options, and a lack of necessary protective factors that the public schools historically provide.
4) Children coming together for brick-and-mortar schools during these times is not a YES or NO proposition. There are costs and benefits associated with both positions, and no individual has the “right” answer for everyone regarding this question.
5) Certain areas of the world have re-opened schools with relatively encouraging results. More information needs to be collected and analyzed immediately and with unbiased methodology.
As conditions change around us, July 20, 2020, will not be the day I make any updated recommendations to our board regarding the status of beginning school for this year. Rest assured, our HCSD team will be consulting experts, considering our ability to staff enough adults to carry out any proposed plan, listening to our community, and ultimately making a decision that will no doubt be unpopular in our current political climate for some, popular with others, but ultimately what we believe is the best and safest option at that time.
In the near future, I will make a recommendation to our board. They will accept, reject, or modify that recommendation and that will be our plan moving forward.
My hope and prayer for this community is that we seek, with all of our ability, a desire to come together for the good of all, creating and developing the most positive, safe, and hopeful path forward for our boys and girls, our team members, and our overall community.
Thank you for allowing your Hall County Team to support our families in educating our children.
Will Schofield
