About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 3, 2020)
LOCAL The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com Weekend Edition - October 3-4, 2020 9A 5 takeaways from talk with superintendents THOMAS HARTWELL I The Times The Times hosted a virtual town hall on Tuesday, Sept. 29, with Hall County Schools Superintendent Will Schofield, top right, and Gainesville City Schools Superintendent Jeremy Williams, bottom left, to discuss their strategies for educating children amid the coronavirus pandemic. Composite image using screen captures from Zoom. BY NATHAN BERG nberg@gainesvilletimes.com It’s been about a month since the Hall County and Gainesville City schools students returned to the classroom, and The Times sat down with local superintendents this Tuesday to see how things have gone so far. Hall Superintendent Will Scho field and Gainesville Superinten dent Jeremy Williams provided updates on everything from new school procedures and protocols, to contact tracing to extracurricu- lars and athletics. Here are some of the key take aways from Tuesday’s event. Schools staying open, but classes starting to close Both superintendents acknowl edged that an increase in COVID- 19 cases within schools could lead to entire schools or even districts shutting down, and while that hasn’t happened at that level yet, individual classrooms in both school systems have already had to go into quarantine. Williams said two classrooms within the Gainesville City School System are currently quarantined, adding that the lack of availability of substitute teachers when a school employee tests positive has been a difficult challenge to overcome. Schofield said Hall County cur rently has one class quarantined, and while no full schools have had to be shut down, he did leave that pos sibility open further down the line. “We’re one day away from quar antines every day,” he said. “I hope it does not occur. We’re ready for it, and it certainly would not be a surprise if it gets to that point.” Wear a mask or stay at home Williams and Schofield both affirmed that the school districts will not be lenient with mask wearing. Students and employees at Hall and Gainesville schools are all required to wear masks while inside school buildings, and nei ther district is making any excep tions. Schofield said all Hall County students who refuse to wear face coverings will be switched to vir tual if they do not comply with the mandate. “You certainly have the right to believe that face coverings don’t make a difference,” he said. “We believe that they do, starting with me and with our board of educa tion. ... If we have a student that says ‘My mom says I’m not wearing a mask at this school,’ we’ll just put an arm around them, figuratively, and say ‘That’s just fine, we need to give mom a call and we will switch you over to digital learning.’” Williams said Gainesville would follow the same procedure for stu dents refusing to wear a mask, but that the school system has not had to switch any students over to vir tual learning for that reason. “Some may forget, but as soon as we remind them or provide them a backup mask, they’re fine, and they move right along," he said. Slightly differing stances on clubs The Hall County and Gainesville City school districts are following similar plans for the return to in- person learning, but one area in which they differ is extracurricu lar activities and clubs. In Hall County schools, clubs are meeting in person while maintain ing the same social distancing and mask wearing mandates required for students during school hours. “Certainly clubs and extracur- riculars are a large part of what a school experience is,” Schofield said. At Gainesville, clubs are only meeting virtually, but Williams did say the school system has plans to relax those restrictions soon. Additionally, while no drama per formances have taken place in the Hall County School District, Wil liams said the Gainesville High School drama department was able to put on a show with a small cast and spectators limited to just 60. Neither district, however, has allowed any full-scale performances with larger cast sizes like schools would put on during a normal year. “We’re going to do everything we can to make things as normal as possible,” Williams said. “But then it may mean we have to pivot when it comes time to have a cast of 50 going up to do a musical per formance. It’s learning how to nav igate inCOVID.” Future still unclear The superintendents were non committal when asked about the future for the school districts, with Williams saying it’s impossible to project out “the next two weeks, or really even tomorrow.” He said Gainesville schools has plans to open a few areas — includ ing playgrounds and cafeterias — in the coming weeks. The school system does not have plans to relax any of its precautionary pro cedures though. Schofield was in strong agreement. “Until we see significantly lower community spread and a period of weeks or even a month or two where we’ve seen very little spread, we won’t be changing miti gation practices,” he said. The superintendents added that procedures and protocols schools are required to follow may be extended into the spring semester as well but said that it was too early to make any definitive decisions on that matter. How you can help Schofield and Williams both said cooperation from the community would be crucial to keeping schools open for in-person learning. The superintendents suggested that the most impactful action families can take to help is to keep their kids at home when any member of the family is feeling sick. Schofield mentioned that there are parents sending sick students to school every week, and he asked those parents to consider the ripple effects that can cause. Williams agreed with Schol- field, adding that the more con sistent you can keep the “pod” of friends and family you encounter, the less likely you are to contract COVID-19. “The more we’re out there mix ing it up and going to new places or different places, the harder it’s going to be to contact trace and keep it at a minimum,” he said. “But if people keep their core con sistent while still living their life, at least then we’re able to minimize it, I believe, as much as possible.” Good News Clinics receives grant for cardiac health care Gainesville’s Good News Clinics has received a $150,000 grant for its cardiovascular health program. The clinics’ Healthy Hearts 4 Life program is one of nine to get funding from the AstraZeneca Healthcare Foundation’s Connec tions for Cardiovascular Health Next Generation program. The funding will help Good News Clinics screen and identify low-income, uninsured patients with cardiovascular disease, as well as those at risk. It will fund clinical care and behavioral coun seling to help patients learn more about heart health and make life style changes, according to a news release. “This funding will help us to remove barriers to care for our patients. It will enable us to pro vide clinical care and health care education to those at risk,” Good News Clinics Executive Director Liz Coates said in a statement. The AstraZeneca Healthcare Foundation is a Delaware-based nonprofit that promotes awareness of health care issues and works with health care nonprofits. Good News Clinics, located at 810 Pine St. in Gainesville, is a nonprofit clinic that provides free medi cal and dental care for uninsured patients with a family income within 150% of the federal poverty level. Megan Reed Nathan Whitmire President, Southernwood Homes U/// r . •« Right Choice Energy Efficient. Guaranteed. www.jacksonemc.com -nr • HeightChoice HOMES Energy Efficient Homes. 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