School districts across southwest Virginia are releasing back-to-school plans as the school year gets closer and coronavirus continues to spread.
Here is a list of plans broken down by locality:
Alleghany County
School will start on Sept. 9. No coronavirus-specific plans for the fall have been released yet. When a plan is released, it can be found here.
Amherst County
School will start Aug. 26.
- All elementary school students wil be in school Monday through Thursday with block scheduling in place
- For middle and high school students, they will be split into groups. One group will go to school on Mondays and Wednesdays, the other on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with both groups doing at-home instruction on Fridays.
For more information, click here.
Appomattox County
Students will return to school on Aug. 24 with a hybrid model in place with more in-person instruction for Pre-K-5 students. It is contingent on transportation, available building spaces to split classrooms, and available staff supervising the split groups for social distancing. More details can be found here.
Bath County
The school board is still working on a plan. As of right now, two options are being considered — a hybrid schedule with students in school two days a week, or a hybrid schedule with students in school four days a week.
To learn more, click here.
Bedford County
Students in pre-K through 6th grade will be learning in person every day. Students in grades 7-12 will have a hybrid schedule of in-person and online learning.
Students will start back on three different dates:
- Pre-K to 3rd Grade (and 4th for those still housed in elementary schools) – August 12
- Grades 4-6 that are in the middle schools – August 13
- Grades 7-12 – August 17
Check here for updates.
Bland County
Students will be placed in Group A or Group B — with Group A students attending school Mondays and Tuesdays and Group B attending schools on Thursdays and Fridays.
Siblings will go to school on the same day.
Preschool and kindergarten students will be issued an iPad and 1st graders through 12th graders will be issued a Chromebook.
For more information, click here.
Botetourt County
School leaders in Botetourt County approved a reopening plan on June 29. The new school year will begin Aug. 10.
Students will go to school on Monday and Thursday or Tuesday and Friday and will learn remotely the other three days of the week.
Students can alternatively choose to take all their classes remotely. They will not be considered homeschooled, so they will still be eligible to participate in athletics.
Check here for more information.
Buena Vista
School is set to start on Aug. 17. Students over the age of 10 who chose in-person instruction and staff will be required to wear a face mask when a physical distance of 6 feet is not possible. More information can be found here.
Campbell County
School is set to start on Aug. 19. No coronavirus-specific plans for the fall have been released yet. When a plan is released, it can be found here.
Carroll County
All students will be in school two days a week starting Aug. 17. More information can be found here.
Charlotte County
The school board is still collecting the results of a survey sent to families on how to proceed. For more information, click here.
Covington
School is set to start on Sept. 9. Reopening plans are expected to be released soon. For more information, click here.
Craig County
School will start on Aug. 24.
- Grades Pre-K through 8 will go to school Monday through Thursday for in-person learning and Friday will be reserved for virtual learning
- Grades 9 through 12 will go to school two days per week with three days of virtual learning
- Students riding the school bus will sit one student per seat, except for siblings, and students must wear face masks on the bus
For more information, click here.
Danville
The 2020-2021 school calendar is not finalized, but the proposed first day of school is Aug. 17. For more information, click here.
Floyd County
- Pre-K through third grade will go to school in-person every day except Wednesday
- Grades 4 through 7 will go to school two days per week at 50% capacity except for Wednesday. Students will engage in online learning on days not in school.
- Grades 8 through 12 will go to school one day per week at 25% capacity except for Wednesday. Students will engage in online learning on days not in school.
- Students have the option to remain 100% online.
- Students with disabilities will have the option to attend school 4 days a week if appropriate
- Normal bus routes will be running
For more information, click here.
Franklin County
Students will go back to school on Aug. 10
- Students in grades 3 through 12 will do remote learning. The school board will assess a return to in-person instruction, a hybrid schedule or sticking with online learning after the first nine weeks of school.
- Pre-K through 2nd-grade students will be in-school
- Students are required to wear masks while at school
- Transportation will be provided for online learning and students will be assigned seats on the bus
- Students may opt to participate in 100% online learning
More information can be found here.
Galax
The first day of school is set for Aug. 19.
The school board is weighing two options for scheduling, with students either in school or at home for five days a week. For 6th through 12th grade, teachers will rotate classrooms. The high school will change from a 7 period day to a 3 block class day. Students and staff will go through temperature checks and health screenings each day.
For more information, click here.
Giles County
No coronavirus-specific plans for the fall have been released yet. When a plan is released, it can be found here.
Grayson County
School is set to start on Aug. 13.
All students will be in-person Monday through Thursday, with Friday reserved for virtual learning until Labor Day, when students will return to an in-person schedule on Sept. 8. However, the school board states that schedules may become staggered as the year goes on.
The school meal program will also continue.
For more information, click here.
Halifax County
The superintendent has requested to delay the first day of school until after Labor Day. A hybrid model is possible. For more information, click here.
Henry County
Henry County students will start classes on Aug. 10, but there will be a staggered return to the building and students will be split into groups.
Each group will go to school two days a week and learn virtually for three days.
There will be a seating arrangement on buses and kids will be required to wear masks while riding. Once at school, there will be a daily wellness check. Lunch will be a grab and go system and students will eat in the classroom.
Highland County
No coronavirus-specific plans for the fall have been released yet. When a plan is released, it can be found here.
Lexington
Lexington City Schools will reopen on Aug. 31.
Students in grades K-8 will have a shortened Monday-Friday schedule to allow for afternoon virtual instruction and teacher preparation.
Families have to option to opt for 100% online learning for their students.
Check here for updates.
Lynchburg
Lynchburg City Schools will reopen on Aug. 24 using a combination of in-building, hybrid and remote learning.
The “Return to Learn Plan” calls for students in pre-kindergarten through grade 5 to attend school in person two days a week. Students will be separated into two cohorts. Cohort A will receive in-building instruction on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, while Cohort B will attend on Thursdays and Fridays. On Mondays, students will engage in “self-directed independent learning” away from the building. Students will have remote learning on the two other days when they’re not scheduled to be in the building.
Grades 6 through 12 will start the school year using a remote learning model. The tentative plan is to enter Phase 3 after Labor Day, on Sept. 8. At that time, secondary students would begin in-person learning two days a week using the same two cohort system as the elementary schools.
Check here for updates.
Remote learning will be the only option, at least at the beginning of the year, for Martinsville City Schools students.
While most, if not all, districts have this option in their plan, as of July 20 Martinsville was the only district in the 10 News viewing area using it.
When the school board approved the district’s three-phase plan on July 13, the intent was to start the school year with a hybrid plan. However the superintendent made the announcement on July 17 to revert to the all-remote option after seeing cases continue to increase in the city and surrounding areas.
The district will continue to consult with the local health department to determine when and how students and teachers can return to the classroom.
Check here for the latest updates.
Montgomery County
The school board has a meeting scheduled for July 21.
For more information, click here.
Nelson County
There will be a special called school board meeting Thursday, July 23. A plan for returning to school is coming soon. Click here to learn more.
Patrick County
The school board is still weighing two options for reopening schools.
Option 1 is a banded learning schedule, where students will be on an AABB schedule. Students in Group A will go to school Mondays and Tuesdays and will learn from home Wednesday through Friday. Students in Group B will learn from home Monday through Wednesday and will go to school on Thursday and Friday.
Under Option 2, all students will learn from home Monday through Friday.
For more information, click here.
Pittsylvania County
First day of school is Aug. 20. For more information, click here.
Pulaski County
- Elementary school students will be assigned one teacher for reading, math, science and social studies
- Middle school students will do block scheduling and teachers will rotate classrooms. When students are walking throughout school, they will be required to wear masks
- High school students will do block scheduling and when students are walking throughout school, they have to wear masks
- Elementary school will be from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and middle and high school will be from 9:15 a.m. to 2:15 p.m., with one hour of virtual learning after school each day.
More information can be found here.
Radford
Radford City school leaders are weighing the options of what this school year could look like.
Superintendent Robert Graham said the division has multiple committees on each grade level weighing which is the safest and best all-around option for the school year.
He hopes to bring as many students as he can back to school for in-person learning this fall.
More information can be found here.
Roanoke City
School leaders unveiled the back-to-school plan for Roanoke City Public Schools on July 14.
Parents can opt for their child to enroll in the “Virtual Academy” to have 100% online instruction. Otherwise, students will go to school four days a week, with Friday classes online. However, this hybrid plan hinges on 30% of students enrolling online, which staff believe is a realistic number based on feedback from a parent survey. But only about two-thirds of families responded to that survey, and they need to hear from 100% of families before they lock it in.
Parents received a robocall with the information on July 14 and should expect to be able to make their choice for in-person or online learning starting Monday, July 20.
The board will then need to approve the plan, and they set a time after the end of July to do so. Check here for the latest updates.
Roanoke County
The board voted to push the start of school back from Aug 13. to Aug. 24.
Parents can still choose to have their students receive 100% online instruction if desired. School leaders told 10 News 15% of parents chose this option.
There will be reduced class sizes for the students in K-2 who attend school in person five days a week. School leaders said some areas of the school, such as libraries and cafeterias, have been converted into classroom spaces.
Students in grades 3-12 will be split into two groups and will attend school in person two days a week spread out in classroom spaces.
More information can be found here.
Rockbridge County
All grades K-12 being split into two groups and only attending classes in person two out of five days a week, with virtual learning the other three.
Preschoolers will spend 4 days in school with Wednesdays off.
Salem
The approved plan features in-person instruction five days a week for students in preschool-2nd grade. Students in 3rd through 12th grade will go to school in person two days a week, and engage in online learning for the other three days.
School leaders said the plan provides flexibility to adjust if conditions or official guidance changes. For example, the plan could be scaled to a scenario where students in grades Pre-K-2 attend school two days a week, students in grades 3-5 attend school one day a week, and students in grades 6-12 attend school two days a week.
All students (K-12) will receive their own Chromebooks to help with the online portion of their education.
All parents still have the option to choose 100% remote learning for their child if they desire.
Students will be required to wear masks when necessary, including on the bus.
There are about 4,000 students in Salem schools, which are scheduled to open on Aug. 31.
More information can be found here.
Wythe County
The school year will start with a hybrid schedule and will prepare for the possibility of 100% distance learning or traditional in-person learning.
Under the hybrid schedule:
- Schedules will consist of ‘A’ days and ‘B’ days at school — ‘A’ days will be Mondays and Wednesdays, ‘B’ days will be Tuesdays and Thursdays
- On the days they are not in school, students will participate in virtual learning
- Fridays will be used for planning and help for students
- The school district aims to keep families with students in multiple schools on the same schedule
For more information, click here.
This is part of an ongoing in-depth 10 News series looking into reopening schools in Virginia. We are working for you, investigating many different angles of what the changes and challenges mean for families, staff, and the community. Contact Jenna if you have questions by email or on Facebook or Samantha Smith, digital contact producer, at ssmith@wsls.com.
Source: WSLS News 10