Atlanta Public Schools says it will cautiously move ahead with plans to resume in-person classes next month. At a town hall Thursday, Superintendent Lisa Herring said the district plans to start phasing in students on January 19. The new semester starts on Jan. 5, but APS will still operate virtually at the beginning.
The district had planned to return to face-to-face classes in October but decided against it due to a rise in COVID-19 cases. Herring acknowledged conditions could be similar in January when coronavirus infection rates are expected to spike.
“After we’ve come off of a holiday break, we recognize that we are in a surge,” she said. “And yet research has been that much more robust.”
Some research has shown that outbreaks in schools usually come from the community. Researchers have said schools can mitigate the virus—by requiring face coverings and social distancing, for example—even if infection rates are high in the surrounding community.
Herring said APS has been consulting with public health experts to learn how to mitigate the virus once classes resume. She said the district has improved air and water quality and spent more than $68 million upgrading school HVAC systems.
