Cobb school year start date delayed 2 weeks; registration postponed

Cobb school board start date delayed

The Cobb County School District has delayed the start of classes by two weeks later than scheduled due to planning and concerns over COVID-19.

The Cobb Board of Education voted 7-0 Thursday in a special called meeting to begin instruction on Aug. 17, instead of Aug. 3.

“There are a number of things that are out of our control,” Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale said, as the district plans for the coming school year.

A two-week delay, he said before the vote, “would give us ample time to get all the information we need to properly communicate” with parents about how the start of the school year will proceed.

Last week Ragsdale said the school year would be starting on time, and in classrooms on Aug. 3, and parents would be offered a remote option that they would have to commit to for at least one full semester.

But since then, Gov. Brian Kemp extended the state’s public health emergency to Aug. 11 and on Wednesday, a Cobb public health alert was issued.

Parents can still choose to have their children either in the classroom or a remote option. If they choose the virtual option, they must commit to it for at least one semester.

An online registration portal that was to have opened Thursday and closed July 10 is being postponed for now, Ragsdale said.

“More likely, it’s going to be an open date without a closing date.”

All teachers, principals and other staff scheduled to report on July 27 will still begin on that date.

The delayed Cobb graduation schedule announced last week also will continue as rescheduled, between July 13-24, at McEachern High School.

Cobb has the second-largest school district in Georgia, with nearly 113,000 students in 112 schools.

Ragsdale said the two-week delay will not alter the rest of the 2020-21 academic calendar, including week-long breaks in September and February.

“We are not looking to delete” either of those breaks, he said, adding that the district would not have to make up those dates, and that “we’re going to work” to meet curriculum requirements with the modified calendar.

The Cobb decision comes after Gov. Brian Kemp issued an executive order extending the state’s public health emergency to Aug. 11.

Last week, the Fulton County School System announced it would be delaying the start of classes by a week, from Aug. 10 to Aug. 17.

School board member Charisse Davis asked if masks will be required for students, teachers and staff in the school buildings.

Ragsdale said that while masks are “absolutely expected and strongly recommended,” and that social distancing cannot be guaranteed in a classroom, he will not be mandating that they be worn.

He said the extra two weeks will help those involved with digital and remote learning lessons and logistics and generally give the district flexibility in case health guidance shift again.

Students in remote learning environments will have teachers who will not be in the classroom, and vice versa.

Also complicating the district’s plans are a possible $62 million budget deficit. The board has not been able to adopt a budget for fiscal year 2021, which began Wednesday, due to delayed funding from the legislature.

The board is expected to enact a budget at its July 16 meeting.

“Quite honestly, we don’t have all the answers right now,” Ragsdale said, “and we don’t know what’s going to change next.”

The Cobb school district Coronavirus resource page keeps updated information on back-to-school plans, health guidance, regisration and more.