Forsyth County

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos visits metro district, praises its reopening plan

FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — The U.S. Secretary of Education is giving high marks to a metro Atlanta school district for the way it has reopened schools during the pandemic.

Secretary Betsy DeVos visited Forsyth Central High School Tuesday to talk with educators, parents and students.

DeVos praised the district for its planning and execution in reopening schools. She said the most important thing is giving families and students a choice of whether to learn in-person or online.

“I think they’ve provided a great road map. At the same time, there is no one size fits all,” she said.

Channel 2′s Tom Regan attended the round-table discussion as DeVos, parents and school officials discussed the back to school plan.

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The Forsyth County School District is offering a hybrid of virtual learning and in-school instruction. Two-thirds of its students returned to the classroom.

Masks are expected but not required by the district. Forsyth Central principal Mitch Young said about 75% of students and staff wear face coverings.

Young said that has helped contained virus spread among the 2,500 students.

“It’s been remarkably smooth,” he said. “In terms of students, we have had six new cases since school has started and one staff member. We have had just over a 100 students that have been quarantined.”

The district has reported 37 positive cases among the 37,000 students and employees who have returned to school. No schools or classrooms have had to shut down. Superintendent Jeff Bearden said they are ready to pivot if infections rise significantly.

DeVos praised teachers, students and administrators for their hard work to jump start the fall semester.

“I think they have modeled a very viable and solid example of what can be done to ensure you’re meeting the needs of the students across the district,” she said.