Fayette County’s public schools will delay the start of the fall semester until Aug. 10, the system decided Monday.
The Board of Education voted 5-0 to give teachers an extra week of pre-planning, which will now run July 27-Aug. 7. Classes were originally slated to begin Aug. 3, but Superintendent Joseph Barrow Jr. said the complicated nature of resuming instruction with ongoing COVID-19 precautions requires more extensive preparation.
The change means the fall semester will have 86 instructional days and the spring semester will have 89, a slight variance from the usual 90 days each. All other aspects of the 2020-21 academic calendar remain the same for now, although the board acknowledged that any major changes in public health circumstances could affect that.
The county still plans to hold in-person high school graduation ceremonies on Aug. 1 unless there is a “substantial” increase in coronavirus cases at that time. An administrative task force is working on a detailed plan for having on-site and/or virtual lessons for all grade levels, to be finalized in July.
