MOULTRIE, Ga. — Colquitt County Superintendent Doug Howell said school has never been out for five months, at least not in the 35 years he’s been with the school district. It’s been a year like no other, he said, but it’s good to be back.

School took off on March 13, so when the 2020-2021 school year officially started back on Monday, it was a little over five months since students have been in schools.

That’s five months that students haven’t been in school to learn, five months that teachers haven’t been to the classroom to teach and five months that staff haven’t filled the building to run its day-to-day processes.

Howell said he feels sort of giddy to come back to it all.

“It’s exciting to see the buses rolling this morning [and] the kids are excited,” he said. “We’re well aware of the health issues, but we believe that kids need to be in school.”

This is one part due to academic loss, and the other to the emotional and social issues felt during the time students were out.

Howell got the chance to interact with some of the students as they entered the school halls and found them to be ecstatic upon their return. 

The school system has to be on top of its game to protect its students from COVID-19, Howell said.

“We’re going to be as safe as we can, we’re going to follow as many of the guidelines as we can, and we’re going to listen to people,” Howell said. “We’re going to try to do a good job of educating these kids and keeping them safe at the same time.”

And part of that mission is giving parents the option to enroll their students in physical, remote or virtual options, the latter of which being something the school system’s had for a while.

Howell said they’re giving parents the week to lock in their decision. 

The remote option is an online classroom taught by Colquitt County teachers with curriculums aligned with the physical classes. They’ll be taught at specific times Monday-Friday, essentially being a full school day.

Students choosing this option can meet with, call or chat online with teachers as needed. To provide a swift transition back, instruction takes place on the same schedule as the physical class.

Should those in grades K-5 decide upon the remote learning option, nine weeks — the first quarter of school — of commitment are necessary before attempting to switch.

VirtuPack is for sixth through twelfth graders who want to study via virtual programming for a full semester. This will be accessed through Georgia Virtual School (GAVS), and won’t be taught locally, instead using teachers employed by GAVS.

This option gives a bit more freedom, Howell said. 

“You might be at home taking two or three classes, but then you might come to the high school to take band or choir or else you might take a dual enrollment course and then take the rest of them virtually,” he said. “You can mix and match if you do the virtual option.”

Colquitt County has had this option for years as a way to accommodate students’ lives. Sometimes you have a student who needs to go to work earlier or you might have one who wants to get out of school early to practice for their sport.

In this case, you have students who may want to take this option or the remote classroom for safety reasons.

Students taking this option will maintain enrollment at their district school to participate in extracurriculars. The VirtuPack course doesn’t adhere to a set daily schedule, but assignments should be done daily.

The school system is also making sure to keep all its students safe with daily cleanings of the entire school, having hand sanitizers near every door and in the hallways, and abiding by the three Ws: wash your hands, wear a mask and watch your distance.

Howell said on Aug. 4 that they aren’t mandating masks throughout the school since Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp hasn’t required them. Kemp’s most recent state of emergency declaration has allowed cities to declare their own mandates, but Howell said the school system isn’t changing things.

“We encourage kids to wear masks,” Howell said. “We want that and we’re asking that.”

The school system has its employees to mandatorily wear masks with the option of using face shields as well, but Howell said with children it’s different.  

“There are a few kids who can’t wear masks for health reasons and there are probably a few parents that don’t want them to wear a mask, we understand that too,” he said. “We’re asking, we’re requesting and recommending that every kid, every employee wear a mask.”