Atlanta

Teachers, parents stress patience as APS and other districts return to learning next week

It's the last weekend of summer vacation for students, parents and teachers in Atlanta Public Schools.

The district goes back to school virtually on Monday, along with other school districts across the metro.

APS will be one of the last districts to return to learning in Georgia.

“I think it has been a huge advantage,” said APS teacher and parent Lea Durdin.

She hopes the extra time to prepare helps everyone limit the technical problems that some other school districts saw on day one.

“We have a lot of training and amazing tech support over there at APS,” Durdin told Channel 2′s Matt Johnson. “We’ve had about three weeks straight of training as teachers as all this kicks off.”

APS will join the Rockdale County School District in starting the year virtually.

Hall and Meriwether counties will start the year while offering a choice for face-to-face learning.

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Schools in Cherokee, Paulding and Floyd counties have had to close campuses that offered in-person learning because of outbreaks.

Pepperell Primary School is one of three Floyd County schools that will stay closed because of high COVID-19 cases.

In Cherokee County, there are 103 reported cases of the virus in the district. Three high school campuses are closed after a string of infections.

“Hopefully, by the end of the semester, we can choose to send our girls back to face-to-face learning,” said Russell Kreeger, who is keeping his two children in virtual learning for now.

He said the important thing he's learned so far is how his children need time with friends after learning online.

“I mean, practicing social distance or, you know, safety measures. But you give your children an ability to experience or explore that social environment and interaction outside of school because if they’re not getting it every day at school, they need to interact,” Kreeger said.

APS Superintendent Dr. Lisa Herring agrees that the emotional well-being of students is more critical than ever. She said her district has a plan to approach this on day one.

“There are social, emotional learning lessons, and they’ve been baked into the classroom, so that happens every single day. And teachers are recommended to start each day with a social, emotional activity,” Herring said.

Durdin said teachers are approaching the school year with their own mental health in mind too.

“That’s the biggest challenge — is not letting it stress us out as professionals or as caregivers,” Durdin said.

She's urging parents to connect with other parents in the class before Monday in case of surprises with technical issues.

“To have some sort of chat room to where you can share as a community. ‘Hey, Tommy can’t get in, and I just want that word to be passed on to the teacher.’ Because it relieves the stress on the kid and the parent. And we all know we’re not doing anything wrong, and we just need a little patience,” Durdin said.

And patience is what parents and teachers say everyone will need well past the first day of school.

“It’s really important for all adults involved to take it slow and have an understanding and really support these kids,” Durdin said.