Friday March 29th, 2024 1:24AM

Hall County Schools entering final countdown for return to the classroom

GAINESVILLE – The Hall County Board of Education held its final meeting Monday evening before the start of the 2021-2022 school year, and across the spectrum, from board members and administrators, to faculty and staff, to students and parents, everyone would like to see a more-predictable learning environment than the one experienced in 2020-2021.

When asked what concerns and fears he had been hearing from district employees, as well as students and their families, Hall County School Superintendent Will Schofield said, “I’m actually hearing very little from folks, for the most part, which is very positive.”

Following the meeting Schofield said, “I think folks trust us; they know we’re gonna look at the data; we’re not going to jump to one extreme or the other.”  The superintendent was addressing the possible challenges COVID-19 could present the district moving forward.

But then Schofield cautioned, “What we are hearing, though, from the hospital system is that they are watching future numbers as close as anyone and they have some concerns…and what they quite honestly admit is, ‘We as a healthcare system are not set up to handle the kind of volume that we had to deal with last year.’”

“I think the message from that is we’re just going to have to be very proactive, we’re going to have to watch the numbers, we’re going to have to be willing to make changes…and if the last eighteen months didn’t teach us anything else, it taught us that you had better be flexible,” the superintendent added.

Schofield said there was still a lot to do before the students arrive on campus on August 6th, but for the most part everything is falling into place as expected.  “There are Herculean Efforts to be made in the next ten days, and they will be made.  Probably the only two areas that we’re running a little behind are…two fields of turf: one at Chestatee High School and one at West Hall, but we are hoping to have those in place before their first home games, so we’re in good shape,” Schofield said.

One change in school policy that will continue into the new school year was singled out for mentioning by Schofield: perfect attendance awards would no longer be given. 

Schofield was responding to a question raised by parent Tiffany Brix during public comment.

Brix asked about attendance requirements for students with compromised immune systems. “If you want parents to keep their kids home (if symptomatic) how are you going to incorporate that into the attendance policy?”

Schofield responded, “We no longer, at this time, are giving incentives for perfect attendance.  We know over the years that we’ve had a lot of sick kids that came because they wanted that perfect attendance award.”

“Quite honestly, if a child is sick it’s an excused illness, an excused absence, and whether you have two of those or you have thirty-four of those, if you’ve got your work done you’re going to be in good shape.”

Click here for a link to the 2021-2022 Hall County School District calendar.

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