On Wednesday, the Fauquier County Public Schools (FCPS) School Board voted to reopen grades K-12 using a hybrid schedule on November 9. Students will have the option between staying virtual and live-streaming classes or attending in-person instruction.
FCPS Information Officer Tara Helkowski confirmed that “the School Board charged Dr. David Jeck and his staff to provide a plan that would bring students back on a more accelerated schedule.”
All students will be divided alphabetically into Group A and Group B based on last name, similar to the plan presented in August. Both virtual and in-person students will be grouped into categories. When Group A has synchronous lectures, Group B will have asynchronous work and visa versa.
Group A will attend or tune-in Monday and Tuesday for synchronous lessons. Group B will attend or tune-in Thursday and Friday for synchronous lessons. Wednesday will be for student/teacher conferences and extra school cleaning.
Helkowski said, “[The schools] will follow social distancing guidelines as much as possible, require face coverings, and require students and staff to conduct self-health screenings before reporting to school.” All FCPS employees and students must complete a self-health assessment prior to entering any FCPS building.
Employee Symptom Checker serves as a health assessment tool. All questions on the symptom checker must be answered with a “No.” If any question is answered “Yes,” the employee MUST stay home. FCPS requires all employees to stay home when they are sick.
Concerning the significant shortage in staff, Helkowski mentioned, “We are calling on our community to help us recruit substitutes. We are also calling on our school community to carpool and provide transportation to school as much as possible.”