About Dunwoody reporter. (Sandy Springs, GA) 20??-current | View Entire Issue (March 2, 2021)
2 | Education k SENIOR LIVING AT ITS FINEST! Chef-Prepared Meals with All-Day Dining 24-Hour Caring Staff Pet-Friendly | Easy Move Program Full Activity Calendar | Private Swimming Pool Schedule a Private Tour or Take Our Virtual One (678) 534-2382 Dunwoody Pines RETIREMENT COMMUNITY 4355 Georgetown Square | Dunwoody, GA 30338 DunwoodyPines.com ASK about our LlAAlTCr\ -r., Facebook.com/TheReporterNewspapers ■ twitter.com/Reporter_News DeKalb County Schools announces in-person return starting March 9 BY SAMMIE PURCELL Students may begin returning to DeKalb County School District classrooms on March 9 from a pandemic closure in accordance with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The DeKalb County School District announced its strategy for reopening schools at a Feb. 23 address it calls the “State of the District,” according to a press release. Schools will place students into two cohorts based on last name and instruction al program in order to maintain proper social distancing. Those groups will partic ipate in hybrid in-person learning based on their choice to attend school in-person or not. Students in pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, and Grades 1, 2, 6 and 9 will begin in-person learning on March 9- Students in all other grades will begin on March 15. Before the announcement, members of the Dunwoody City Council expressed concerns over how students have been af fected over the lack of in-person learning. Anna Hill, a member of the DeKalb County Board of Education representing District 1, attended the Feb. 22 City Coun cil meeting to hear council members’ con cerns. Councilmembers Stacey Harris and Joe Seconder were specifically concerned in regards to students who have special needs and may need individualized edu cation plans. “I don’t believe that DeKalb County is serving kids with individual education plans,” Harris said. “There’s no way they possibly can when doing it virtually. That is a huge concern in our community and all across the county.” Hill said she sympathized with those concerns and that some accommodations for those individualized plans would not be possible in a remote environment. “I worry a lot about these students. I worry about all of the students,” she said. “But if you have a working IEP ... and you can’t actually follow what it says, it leaves a situation of difficulty.” Council members also asked for more transparency with how federal Coronavi- rus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act funds are being used by the school dis trict during the pandemic. “How is the school district spending all those CARES Act funds?” asked Seconder. “Do they have an open checkbook?” Mayor Lynn Deutsch echoed the need for more transparency in how CARES Act funds are being spent. “I’m really concerned that we’re a year into this, and there are reports that some buildings aren’t ready,” Deutsch said. “If I were the superintendent, I would like an audit of how people’s time was spent.” More information on the reopening plan for schools can be found at delcalb- schoolsga.org/school-reopening. Residents can watch “The State of the District” ad dress at dekalbschoolsga.org/communications/dstv. “How is the school district spending all those CARES Act funds? Do they have an open checkbook?” JOE SECONDER City Councilmember DUN
