DALTON, Ga. — Members of the Dalton Board of Education heard reports from principals, staff members and health officials on Monday as school system officials look to decide on the best way for students to return to school next month for the 2020-21 academic year.

Dalton Public Schools officials are still considering three options to open the next school year: total distance learning, traditional in-person classes or a hybrid model where some students attend some days and learn from home the other days. Dalton Public Schools moved to complete distance learning in mid-March due to the new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and continued the final two months of the past school year in that fashion.

“It’s our goal to announce plans” during the next school board meeting on Monday, but “we’re still dealing with a moving target,” said Matt Evans, school board chairman. “It’s day to day” on information from the state and public health officials.

If Dalton Public Schools does employ some form of in-person instruction, families will have the opportunity to opt for full virtual learning, said Superintendent Tim Scott. Those choices would be made on a six-week basis, so families would have the opportunity to continue with virtual learning after the first six weeks of school or decide they’re ready for the student to return to normal classes.

“This is an ever-moving situation that can change at any time based on the spread of the disease,” Scott said. However, “it would be difficult for our teachers to keep up if (students) are jumping back and forth all the time” between distance and conventional learning, hence the six-weeks-at-a-time model.

Dalton Public Schools has been “building distance learning” throughout this “very busy summer,” and “we’re just going to keep building, (because) that will help us with pacing and if students have to drop out of” in-person instruction for a period of time, said Laura Orr, the school system’s chief academic officer. “I feel like we’ll be in a position to drop in and out of any model of instruction we need to (in order) to keep everybody healthy.”

Preparation and protocols

The system has loaded up on cleaning and sanitation supplies in the event students return to buildings.

“We’ve been preparing” personal protective equipment (PPE) since May, said Rusty Lount, the system’s director of operations. “We have about 175 touchless thermometers,” an “ample supply” of 35,000 gloves and hand sanitizer, “spray bottles for every teacher to clean their classroom any time” they wish, a large number of masks and enough face shields for every staff member if they’re so inclined.

Dalton Public Schools is also hiring bus monitors to check temperatures and perform health screenings, said Jeff Wells, safety and transportation director. Hand sanitizer will be provided, and buses will be cleaned and sanitized after morning and afternoon routes with a product that “kills the virus.”

All drivers and riders will wear masks, Wells said. “We’ll have masks for (students) if they lose it or forget.”

In addition, “we’re going to try to limit the buses to 24 students,” so riders will be one-to-a-seat, rather than two-to-a-seat, he said. If a student is ill, he or she will be returned home.

If a student tests positive for COVID-19, Dalton Public Schools will contact the Whitfield County Health Department, clean all areas he or she was in, and inform families of students who were in contact with that student, Scott said. That student would then shift to digital instruction until he or she is well enough to return to school.

Survey results

In a survey by Dalton Public Schools of families that closed Sunday night, 60% of the nearly 3,000 respondents said they were extremely or somewhat uncomfortable sending their children back into school buildings this fall, while a third said they did feel comfortable, said Pat Holloway, chief of staff. The top three concerns of parents were making sure classrooms are cleaned daily, availability of hand sanitizer and checking of temperatures and screenings before students enter buildings, and “we were working on all those already.”

A third of respondents to the survey preferred beginning the year with in-person classes, while 43% preferred a hybrid model, Holloway said. The remaining quarter opted for all digital instruction, and nearly all respondents (96%) said they had access to reliable internet.

Nearly half of the respondents indicated they or a spouse had lost a job during this economic crisis or had their hours reduced at work, she said. “That really indicated the level of problems we’re having in this community.”

In a survey of staff members that received 600-plus responses, 70% of whom were teachers, nearly three quarters of the respondents said they were comfortable returning to work this fall with minimal or some concerns, said Mindy Woods, chief human resources officer. A quarter were not at all comfortable, but only a fifth of the respondents want to teach only digitally, and of the respondents who coach or lead extracurricular activities, 90% said they had no concerns about resuming those duties.

Some teachers have conditions that make them more susceptible to COVID-19 or have family members they want to protect, and “we’ll be as creative as we need to (in order) to keep at-risk staff protected,” Woods said. For example, those educators could do digital instruction for students.

Doctors raise concerns

North Georgia Health District Director Zachary Taylor said Monday that he wished he could present a more “rosy” outlook, but “what is going on in our community is very concerning, and we’re going to continue to see this until the community does more itself.” That includes various measures, but none more important than wearing masks.

“We’re having substantial transmission of COVID-19 in our community,” he said. Cases are increasing rapidly, as are hospitalizations, and while the increase in deaths is smaller, “that tends to lag.”

As of Tuesday afternoon, Whitfield County had 1,869 cumulative, confirmed novel coronavirus cases, the twelfth most cumulative cases of Georgia’s 159 counties, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health. Whitfield County had 15 deaths attributable to COVID-19 and 85 hospitalizations.

Pablo Perez, a Dalton doctor and former member of the school board, said he’s been “surprised” by just how high the rates of infection are locally, especially in those individuals who are asymptomatic.

The Hispanic community has been hit especially hard, Perez added. “I’ve never seen a reality like this before.”

Plans vary by level

If students return this fall to buildings, there would be some after-school elementary programming but no before-school programs, said Kim Rhyne, City Park School principal who spoke on behalf of her fellow elementary principals on Monday. Teachers would wear masks at all times, and while students in grades three and up would be “strongly encouraged” to do likewise, trying to keep masks on younger students isn’t believed practical.

“I know under age 8 is challenging,” but, for everyone else, “I would lean toward requiring masks unless social distancing can be maintained,” Evans said. “That would help mitigate the spread.”

Scott concurred, noting, “When not social distancing, you’re going to have a mask on.”

For middle school, “we’d want any hybrid (student) to run a school schedule at home” for the sake of “normalcy,” said Lauri Johnson, principal of Dalton Middle School. For all-digital students, “we may need to provide a more asynchronous experience.”

At Dalton High School, “we’re kind of looking at everything we design that there needs to be a digital option” in addition to the in-person experience, said Stephanie Hungerpiller, the school’s principal. In addition, each student would be given a mask to wear, and “teachers would model that behavior” by also wearing masks.

Feeding students

With the nutrition department, “our goal is to feed the kids at school, home, or both, and our department has shown we’re very adaptable to change,” said Wimberly Brackett, director of school nutrition. When school buildings closed in March, her department continued to feed students by venturing out into the community, then transitioned smoothly into the summer nutrition program.

For students in school buildings this fall, they’ll be served in smaller groups, not in large cafeterias, Brackett said. Meals will be prepackaged in individual containers.

Losing personal connections when children are not in school

Dalton Public Schools is teaching students in-person this summer at Morris Innovative High School and City Park, and there have been no positive coronavirus tests, said Caroline Woodason, a director of school support. “It’s been a fabulous summer.”

Making sure students and staff follow all health and safety recommendations has been “labor intensive,” but worthwhile, she said. “It’s been very, very successful.”

Evans hopes students can return to in-person classes, at least some days of the week, this fall, rather than engaging in complete distance learning, he said. “If we keep kids at home, we are taking something from them.”