MOULTRIE, Ga. — Colquitt County school officials still have many unanswered questions about reopening schools following the coronavirus outbreak, but there is a target date.

Teachers are expected to report Aug. 3 and students on Aug. 10, School Superintendent Doug Howell announced at a board of education work session Monday evening.

Those dates may be subject to change based on the community’s health situation, Howell said.

“We are hopefully and prayerfully looking to start school in August,” he said.

Other issues about the reopening are the subjects of many meetings among school administrators; among administrators, teachers and parents; between local administrators and the Regional Education Service Agency; and between school officials and representatives of the Colquitt County Health Department and Colquitt Regional Medical Center, Howell said. 

“Right now, every principal is meeting with small groups of teachers at their schools,” he said.

Among those issues:

• Health and safety.

• Sanitation and disinfection.

• Distance learning.

• Entry into the buildings.

• Bussing.

Howell also announced a survey for parents to give their views about the reopening of schools. The survey is available through a link on the school system website, http://colquitt2.schooldesk.net, or directly at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FT25JG6.

The survey asks questions to ensure the respondent is the parent of a child in a Colquitt County school, then asks about their level of comfort in returning to school full-time, or in returning part-time as part of a hybrid learning environment (part of the instruction in person and part online). It asks whether the parent expects the child to ride a Colquitt County Schools bus. Then it asks several open-ended questions about the parent’s views on different aspects of reopening: illness prevention, transportation, entry into the buildings, meals, teaching and learning, and vulnerable populations.

Parents are invited to fill out the survey to help guide the system.

The system is also being guided by Georgia’s K-12 Restart and Recovery plan, released last week by the Georgia Department of Education and the Georgia Department of Public Health. A copy is available at https://www.georgiainsights.com/recovery.html.

Also during the work session, the board approved two expenditures that will contribute to reopening:

• The board contracted with the Ecovasive Virus and Infection Control Program to sanitize the schools every 90 days for the next year.

•  The board also approved purchases of assorted online resources and hot spots that will enhance the system’s online offerings. Such digital learning is sometimes used in classrooms even during in-person teaching, and it will be crucial if the system has to resume online teaching due to the coronavirus. Some of the purchases were a local match for a grant that Okapilco Elementary School received to provide students with Chromebooks.

Also related to the coronavirus, Howell said in-person graduation is still planned for July 18, and guidelines for how to do that safely will be coming soon.

In other action, the board approved a handful of personnel items. The most prominent was elimination of the assistant director of special education’s position. The person previously in that position has retired, Howell said, and her duties are being distributed between two coordinators who are already employed there. They’ll get increased pay, but the increase will total less than the position that was eliminated.