LYNCHBURG, Va. – “It’s going to keep students safe, it’s going to keep staff safe,” said Lynchburg Education Association President Karl Loos about the reasoning for calling for all Lynchburg City Schools students to start the year learning remotely.
Loos said the association believes an all-virtual start to the school year is the safest option and also prevents a potentially chaotic situation in the event someone in a school tests positive for COVID-19.
“You saw with Major League Baseball today that first positive test sent everything into a quandary there. We want to avoid that in public education,” Loos said.
The school district’s spokesperson said the district has a health mitigation plan in place.
Loos is confident the district can handle an all-virtual start.
”What we were able to do in the spring in a very short period of time was good. We can now build on that and prepare a really good virtual experience for our students,” Loos said. “If they go ahead and make the call now, we have the time to fix any problems that are going to come up.”
The district’s current plan only calls for sixth through twelfth graders to start the year virtually and only for the first two weeks.
After that, they'll be in the classroom two days a week like the other grades.
Lynchburg’s superintendent was not available Monday for an interview.
At a news conference earlier this month to discuss the district’s plan, however, she said the district is going to be fluid.
”What we propose to do as we ease back into a 50 percent capacity is evaluate and make sure that we’re keeping our students safe,” Superintendent Dr. Crystal Edwards said.
On Tuesday, the Lynchburg City School Board is holding a special meeting to look at three different options for the upcoming school year.
- Option 1 - The current plan
- PreK-5th grade students attend in-person learning in schools beginning August 24, 2020, two days per week, either Tue/Wed or Thu/Fri
- 6th-12th grade students participate in remote learning beginning August 24, 2020, and then transition to in-person learning in schools beginning September 8, 2020, two days per week, either Tue/Wed or Thu/Fri
- Students will be required to wear face coverings while attending in-person learning in schools
- Option 2 - Modified plan with a new in-person learning start date for PreK-5th graders
- PreK-12th grade students participate in remote learning beginning August 24, 2020 and then transition to in-person learning in schools beginning September 8, 2020, two days per week, either Tue/Wed or Thu/Fri
- Students will be required to wear face coverings while attending in-person learning in schools
- Option 3 - Modified plan with a new in-person learning start date for all students
- PreK-12th grade students participate in remote learning beginning August 24, 2020 and then transition to in-person learning in schools after the first nine weeks of school (late October). The frequency of in-person learning will be determined based on data available at that time.
- If data suggests, students will be required to wear face coverings while attending in-person learning in schools
As of Monday, in the 10 News viewing area Martinsville and Henry and Nelson counties were the only districts that planned to have all students start the year virtually.