While some school districts in metro Atlanta are resuming classes in a virtual setting due to rising COVID-19 cases, Cobb will begin its spring semester on Wednesday with in-person instruction.
In a letter that went out to parents Sunday evening, the district said it “remains committed to providing our students with an internationally competitive education, ensuring a safe instructional environment, and prioritizing our community’s overwhelming preference for in-person learning.”
The Cobb school district urged parents to keep their children home if they are sick or have symptoms, which in the message included a fever of 100.4 degrees without medications, or if a student has a positive or pending COVID-19 test.
“If a student has a cough, shortness of breath or recent changes to taste/smell, we recommend you contact your health professional for guidance,” the Cobb message said.
Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid issued a declaration of emergency through Jan. 22 that includes a mask mandate in county buildings, but it has no bearing on the schools.
The Cobb school district message comes after Marietta City Schools also announced it would be holding in-person classes when its spring semester begins this week.
Atlanta, Clayton, DeKalb, Fulton and Rockdale schools announced that they will have online-only classes this week.
Cobb schools were in-person for the fall semester, except for fifth grade students at East Side Elementary School in East Cobb for a 10-day period in August after an outbreak near the start of the school year.
That was as the Delta variant of COVID-19 was spreading.
The Omicron variant, which is more transmissable but has primarily yielded milder symptoms, has prompted some of the highest case figures in Cobb and metro Atlanta since the pandemic was declared in March 2020.
As of Friday, the 14-day case rate in Cobb was 1,505 per 100,000 people. A rate of 100 per 100,000 is considered high community transmission, and local health officials are bracing for more as schools resume this week.
Cobb reported 2,368 cases on Dec. 30, a single-day record in the date of report category, and closed out 2021 with multiple days of reporting 1,000 cases or more.
Those figures dwarf the numbers that started 2021, after three educators in the Cobb school district died from COVID-19.
Teachers, students and parents pleaded with Cobb school officials then to consider remote learning, but classes remained in-person.
Cobb and Marietta schools also are among the handful in metro Atlanta that do not have mask mandates.
The Cobb school district is being sued by the parents of four medically fragile students, who are claiming that under the federal Americans With Disabilities Act their children are not able to get a proper in-person education.
They’re demanding that Cobb follow CDC school guidance, including mask mandates, but a judge in October denied their request for a temporary injunction.
In its message to parents Sunday, the Cobb school district referred them to its latest COVID-19 protocols.
In early December, the district revised its quarantine policy to allow asymptomatic students identified as close contacts of someone with the virus to return to school immediately if the parent chooses.
That was as the Omicron variant was first identified. As the fall semester ended, only two schools in the 112-school Cobb district reported double-figure cases in the final week, including 13 at Walton High School.
The Cobb school district message Sunday concluded by saying that “ensuring sick children are not sent to school helps control virus spread and keeps our schools open.”
The district’s latest protocols can be found by clicking here.
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