Photo by Jon Anderson
Hoover schools Riverchase class 2016
Riverchase Elementary School second-grade teacher Catherine Bryant works with a student on a nonfiction writing assignment in 2016.
Elementary students in the Hoover school system who chose in-person instruction this school year will start coming to school four days per week beginning Monday, Sept. 21, school officials announced Tuesday.
But middle and high school students who chose in-person instruction will continue attending school on a staggered schedule, coming to school in person two days per week, for the time being.
Elementary students who chose in-person instruction will not come to school physically on Wednesdays but instead will be given assignments by their teachers to reinforce instruction and support forward learning, Superintendent Kathy Murphy and the school board said in a statement posted on the school district’s website and sent to parents via emails and texts.
“Our elementary teachers will have an opportunity on Wednesdays to support students including those who may be in quarantine as a result of exposure or who are in isolation because of being symptomatic,” the statement read. “It is important to share that we will do our best to support safe spacing between and among our elementary students who are in-person, but we will not be able to guarantee six feet of social distancing on the school bus or in the classroom.”
School officials said they intend to bring all students who chose in-person instruction back to school five days per week “as soon as reasonably possible but no later than the beginning of our second 9-week grading period which begins on October 19.”
Some of the reasons school officials chose to go ahead and bring elementary students back four days a week (but not middle and high school students) are that younger children are less likely to contract and transmit COVID-19 and elementary students do not change classes, making it easier to keep them separated, school officials wrote.
Also, other school districts in the area successfully opened their school year with elementary students attending five days per week without major incidents, officials wrote.
Further, the Jefferson County health officer, Dr. Mark Wilson, affirmed that bringing back elementary children to school for additional days is a reasonable step for Hoover City Schools, the school system’s statement said.
“We have and will continue to be in close communication with state and local health officers, state and local leaders, and we will continue to review the latest information on COVID-19, including trends in our state, Jefferson County, Shelby County, and in HCS and surrounding school districts,” the statement said. “We will communicate with you as we move forward to the next step of getting our middle and high school students, who have chosen in-person instruction, back to school for five instructional days.”
Students who chose to attend school virtually may continue doing that. About 34% of students in Hoover City Schools chose the virtual instruction option, officials said.
“Thank you for your patience and understanding as we address the challenges of COVID-19 and its impact on our school district and, more specifically, its impact on our students,” the statement said.
Ever since school officials on Thursday night said they were reassessing their plan to allow students to go back to school five days a week on Sept. 21 due to worsening COVID-19 conditions, parents who were eager for their kids to go back to school have launched lobbying campaigns, bombarding the school district’s central office and school board members with pleas to let kids return.
Catey Hall, one of the parents who served as an administrator for a Facebook page created to rally parents to the cause, said Tuesday night in a video that while she has been frustrated by the whole ordeal, she was pleased with the decision announced Tuesday.
“I think this is reasonable, and I feel like we just got what we asked for,” Hall said.
She has two second-graders at Greystone Elementary, a sixth-grader at Berry Middle School and a 10th grader at Spain Park High School. While her older children won’t get to return to school five days a week immediately, they now know they at least will be able to do so by Oct. 19, she said.
Kids not being able to go to school every day has caused families to make a lot of sacrifices with their jobs, their home lives and their sanity, Hall said.
“It’s really taken its toll on my family,” she said. “We’ve all been through so much.”
Other parents making comments on social media still weren’t satisfied, saying it’s ridiculous that all kids can’t go ahead and return to school five days a week if they are ready to do so.
But still other parents and some teachers have said it’s too early to bring students back five days a week because of the risk of further community spread of COVID-19.
Murphy, the schools superintendent, last week said she is having to balance competing interests and risks. While the health and safety of students and faculty are of the utmost importance, she also has to consider the other impacts on families and whether students are making adequate academic progress on days they are learning remotely, she said.
