On Monday the Cobb County School District begins the first phase of opening campuses up for in-person instruction when K-5 and special education students resume classes.
Earlier this week we posted a school-by-school breakdown of who’s coming back, who’s staying remote and who hadn’t responded, and noting that 58.7 percent of elementary school students around the county would be coming back to campus.
In East Cobb, a little more than 63 percent of students enrolled in 20 elementary schools will be heading back to their schools.
According to CCSD figures, the parents of 8,797 students at those East Cobb grade schools have chosen the in-person option. That compares to 4,537 students, or 32 percent, who will continue remotely.
The parents of another 557 students, or four percent, had not provided a response as of earlier this week.
The figures are subject to change, but the choices parents have made are not. The decisions reported to the district near the end of September are good through the end of the fall semester, and the district anticipates remote learning remaining an option for the rest of the school year.
The figures don’t include special education students, who also can come back to school at K-12 levels.
Late this week the district produced a back-to-school video laying out what students, teachers and parents can expect, in terms of academics, safety and other protocols.
Students will be required to masks at all times, including on school buses, and the district announced guidelines last week that include possible disciplinary action for students who don’t follow them.
A positive COVID-19 case was reported at Kincaid Elementary School in East Cobb on March 11, and the district closed all schools “until further notice” on March 12.
The following day, Gov. Brian Kemp issued a shelter-in-place order, and on April 2, he closed all public schools in Georgia for the rest of the 2019-20 school year.
Cobb schools began the current school year online-only, and on Sept. 3 Superintendent Chris Ragsdale announced dates for classroom return.
Middle schools students can return starting Oct. 19, and the district data shows that 54.2 percent of those students will be coming back.
The high school return date is Nov. 5, and as of now 42.7 percent have indicated a choice of heading back to classrooms.
Ragsdale made his decision based on public health data reflecting the level of community spread, targeting a 14-day average of between 100 to 200 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people.
As of Friday, Cobb’s figures were 102 cases per 100,000, which is considered high community spread but the lowest that number has been since late June. That average was in the 400s in early August, at the start of the school year, and has gradually been falling.
Cobb and Douglas Public Health breaks down cases and deaths by ZIP Code (click hover map here), and here’s the latest for the East Cobb area:
- 30062: 1,335 cases; 21 deaths
- 30066: 1,202 cases; 22 deaths
- 30067: 1,179 cases, 11 deaths
- 30068: 659 cases, 30 deaths
- 30075: 115 cases, 2 deaths
According to the Cobb GIS office, which keeps county-related COVID data at this hub, 29 of those deaths have occurred at long-term care homes.
GIS also produces a hover map with those details and a swipe function that also shows the proximity of public schools in a ZIP code.
More than three-quarters of all COVID deaths in Cobb are people aged 70 and older, and school-age children have the fewest cases for people under the age of 60.
The latest figures show 1,828 cases for youths age 19 and younger. That includes 307 between the ages of 6-11, 257 between 12-14 and 984 between 15-18.
The two fatalities in Cobb involving someone under the age of 18 were a female and a one-year-old boy who died in late August with an underlying health issue.
The Cobb school district has been updating COVID cases every Friday, and this week indicated that 287 students or staff members have tested postive since July 1.
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- Cobb schools issue mask guidance; 49% of students returning
- East Cobb schools lead county in 2020 SAT scores
- Cobb schools release more K-5, special ed reopening details
- Cobb school board members want masks in dress code policy
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Many Cobb County teachers, support staff and leaders will be returning from the Fall break. The same is true for students. Will employees and students be required to take a Covid testing if they failed to quarantine beforehand?