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The Hartwell Sun
More information about the start of the Hart County school year is being released, including details on open house, how the virtual learning option will work and restrictions on visitations.
Dates and times for open house “Meet the Teacher” events are now posted on the school system’s website at www.hart.k12.ga.us. The schedule is broken up into times and days for each grade level with specific times scheduled by last name.
The first day of open house is scheduled for Aug. 10 and runs through Aug. 13.
Parents are not allowed to walk their children into schools or classrooms on the first day of school. First-day pictures may be taken at open house. Parents need to use car rider lines and remain in their vehicles on the first day of school, according to the school system.
Until further notice, the school system is not allowing any visitors, including parents, to go beyond the front offices at each school. Schools are not accepting lunch visitors currently and many parental involvement activities will occur virtually, according to a release from the Hart County Charter System.
While there are some differences between in-person and virtual learning, many of the expectations are still the same.
For kindergarten through fifth grade, virtual instruction, live and recorded lessons will focus on reading, English language arts and math instruction and will have social studies and science topics built into the lessons. Online assignments will be scheduled throughout the day and will link to instruction that is taking place.
Students in both middle school and high school are expected to follow their assigned schedules and will login to their class via the Educam instructional system, Google Classroom and Google Meet.
For both the middle school and high school, assignments are to be completed during live instruction as well as on their own and grading will follow the same structure as face to face instruction.
Construction, Auto Mechanics and some Physical Education courses will not be available for virtual learning at the high school.
Teachers are to provide support to students learning virtually during the intervention/enrichment blocks of instruction. Students may also request additional support from the teachers and/or the school counselor, but officials made it clear at the July 13 board of education meeting that students and parents should not expect additional help from teachers past normal school hours.
Students who participate in the virtual option are still allowed to participate in extra-curricular activities, as long as they are academically eligible.
The deadline to register for virtual learning is July 30. Once virtual learning begins, those students may not participate in in-person classes until the next semester begins in January.
In regards to transportation, Superintendent Jay Floyd said at the last board of education meeting that bus drivers would not be checking temperatures of students because the drivers already have numerous safety precautions to pay attention to while driving.
The state’s guidance regarding transportation is to provide hand sanitizer for students and bus drivers; allow face coverings and provide them for drivers; sanitize the busses at least daily; and establish protocols for loading and unloading to minimize congregation.
Schools are limiting traffic flow within buildings for the upcoming school year, North Hart Elementary and South Hart Elementary will no longer serve as drop-off sites for students needing bus transportation to and from Hart County Middle School and/or Hart County High School. In order for students in sixth grade through 12th grade to be transported to and from the middle school and/or the high school, they must be picked up and dropped off at their respective homes.
If this change necessitates a change for your child, the school system said, complete a transportation request form prior to Aug. 17th. For incoming sixth and ninth graders, transportation request forms will be available during Meet the Teacher events. For incoming seventh, eighth, 10th, 11th and 12th graders, transportation request forms are available at the Hart County Board of Education office.