Cobb County School District updates Coronavirus guidelines

Following up yesterday’s news about public schools in Georgia remaining closed at least through April 24:

The Cobb County School District on Friday issued its own updated Coronavirus guidelines accordingly, to note that digital learning will continue through the extended closure period.

The exception is the regularly scheduled week of spring break (April 2-6), and here are a couple of bullet points the district is emphasizing for those digital learning days:

All students will be considered present (no students should be marked absent);
No permanent grades should be posted while Cobb Schools are closed. Ongoing feedback, monitoring, and assessment of student progress is encouraged and can be used once Cobb Schools are re-opened and have been provided for all students.

On Wednesday, the Cobb Schools Foundation announced a fundraising drive to purchase digital learning devices for around 1,000 students who need them.

More details can be found at the foundation’s Family Stabilization page.

On Thursday night during a town hall meeting aired across Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp said he’s extending the closure period because “we want people to be comfortable sending their kids back to school” and “we want teachers to be comfortable being in that environment.”

Georgia’s number of positive Coronavirus cases has exceed 1,600, with 546 deaths. Cobb County has 110 positive cases, as of Thursday night.

Several states have cancelled classes for the rest of the year, including Alabama. In his order Thursday, Kemp said he would be making a decision about the fate of the school year in Georgia before the April 24 closure period ends.

Also on Thursday, the Georgia Board of Education approved recommendations by state school superintendent Richard Woods for waivers for local school districts from a number of requirements, including testing, teacher evaluations and course curricula.

The state also has suspended assessment windows for the Georgia Milestones and other mandated tests until further notice.

Cobb’s update Friday stated that “There are still many details regarding these issues that are unanswered at this time. The final resolution of some of those issues will likely need to wait until schools resume normal operation.”

Cobb schools also are continuing weekly student meal pick-up at eight of its campuses, including East Cobb Middle School.

Those pick-up times are Mondays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and include five days of breakfast and lunch for students, who must be present tor receive the food.

Food distribution will continue the week of spring break.

Read Cobb’s updating guidelines by clicking here. The school district also has a resource page for helping families in need.