The county public school systems for Cobb and Fulton announced they have physically shut down some or all schools ahead of winter break.
They join the Forsyth and Cherokee county school districts, both of which announced Saturday they were shutting down many schools. All these moves are a result of school leaders weighing the risks and rewards of having students learn in person as the semester ends Friday — and as COVID-19 cases spike throughout metro Atlanta.
Cobb County School District officials announced Tuesday they were moving all classes online for the rest of the semester. Fulton County Schools staff Monday night announced that, starting Wednesday, all remaining high school instruction this semester will happen online.
The most recent Fulton schools data (from Dec. 11 to Dec. 13) shows that 70 students/staff were positive for the coronavirus and 956 were quarantining due to close contact.
District officials have said all along there would be cases if they re-introduced students, but they argue they’ve been as safe as can be.
Days before Fulton brought students back into classrooms, a group of teachers protested the district’s plan. They said it endangered students and staff.
That battle continued Tuesday afternoon across from Georgia’s Gold Dome, where a few dozen teachers and some students and parents protested. They said in-person learning right now is unsafe.
Many teach or attend school online, but they are concerned about the Georgia Milestones. Students must take the standardized state tests in-person, and teachers must proctor the exams.
”We’re here to stop standardized testing during this pandemic,” said one of the organizers, Alfred “Shivy” Brooks, a high school teacher in Clayton County. “It is truly not safe.”
‘Informed decision’
All of Cobb’s 107,000 students will take classes virtually Thursday and Friday. Wednesday had been already set aside by the district as a remote learning day for all students.
As of Tuesday, Cobb schools had 1,214 confirmed COVID-19 cases since July 1, according to its website. More than 75% of the district’s 112 schools are reporting active cases, the district’s site indicates.
The Cobb County School Board has been divided on how the district should respond to spikes in coronavirus cases in its schools.
Two school board members, Dr. Jaha Howard and Charisse Davis, have asked Superintendent Chris Ragsdale to publicly state what factors the district uses to determine when to close schools. Ragsdale told board members at their November work session that the district does not rely on specific metrics and works with Cobb & Douglas Public Health to make decisions on a case-by-case basis.
Cobb school board member-elect Leroy “Tre” Hutchins also wants the district to release its closure criteria. He said the spike of cases is a result of families coming together for Thanksgiving.
“Now we are going into Christmas break and just looking at the trends, I’m very uncertain of what January will look like for us and I’m hoping that all agencies responsible for data collection can help the district can make the most informed decision,” Hutchins said.
A district spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday regarding whether it will release its criteria.
The Fulton school district twice a week publishes case/quarantine data by school and uses a matrix to decide when to close schools. Unlike Cobb, the Fulton school district on Monday laid out a re-entry plan for after winter break.
All students will learn online from Jan. 6 to Jan. 8. Elementary school students will resume face-to-face instruction on Monday, Jan. 11. Middle and high school students who have chosen in-person learning will physically resume Wednesday, Jan. 13.
The district has asked families to make a nine-week commitment to either in-person or virtual learning this semester — that is a change from when the district surveyed parents in September, when families were not bound by their decision of virtual or in-person learning.
According to data from Dec. 8, a couple days before the survey closed, 47% of those surveyed chose in-person learning, which is a 3% increase from last time. The district got responses for 28,000 of its 90,000 students.
Similar to the district’s post-Thanksgiving plan to curb spread, officials are promising 48-hour results for those tested on Jan. 2 at two testing sites. The locations were not announced, but the district said one would be in the north and one in the south.
AJC staff writer Ty Tagami contributed to this story.
