CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — The doors at Clayton County schools are open today, but no students are inside. Everything is online.
Their classroom will now be at home until the school district feels it is safe to return.
Channel 2′s Tom Jones spoke to a rising 9th grader, who says it will be an interesting year. He says there is one thing he’ll miss the most.
“Seeing my friends,” Zion Goree.
Goree says his new classroom at home is no frills to keep him focused on learning,
“That’s why my mom doesn’t want me working in my room,” Goree said.
Clayton County schools decided to go all virtual learning because of the coronavirus.
Superintendent Morcease Beasley says it's just not safe to send students back to class.
“We’re excited to begin virtually. Our goal is to get to face-to-face as soon as everyone does their part to flatten the curve,” Beasley said.
School principals distributed thousands of devices and Wi-Fi hots to students.
“We also ordered 38,000 new Chromebooks,” Beasley said.
[COUNTY-BY-COUNTY: Plans for returning to school this fall]
Some teachers will work from home, some from school.
“I think the point is they will all be engaged with their students on the first day of school regardless of their location,” Beasley said.
Parent Tony McCrear has three kids who will now have to learn virtually.
“Is it perfect? No. Is it what is needed now? Absolutely. I’d rather have this than some of the other alternatives that I’ve seen in other counties,” McCrear said.
Goree says he will miss getting in-class instruction from his teachers but he thinks the district made the right decision.
“Yeah, for right now it’s better to be safe than sorry,” Goree said.
“I’m fortunate enough to work from home. I know there are thousands of others who can’t work from home. But we’re going to have to figure out a way to make it work because we love our teachers and we love our students. And we want to keep them as safe as possible,” McCrear said.
The school system will re-evaluate students returning to school after the virus slows down. They could go with a full face-to-face return, a blended version or phase in a few grades to get everyone acclimated.
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