After moving all students to remote learning Sept. 7, Bibb County public school students have returned to in-person classes.
In efforts to maintain a safe learning environment, Bibb County School District (BCSD) Superintendent Curtis Jones decided to once again implement virtual learning for all students and teachers in the district.
“We have developed a data-driven process for identifying the potential spread of COVID-19 in BCSD classrooms, grade cohorts and schools,” Jones said in a BCSD newsletter. “Using this process this school year, we have been able to determine some classrooms, parts of a grade cohort, and schools were best protected from COVID-19 spread by going virtual for a limited period of time.”
Almost immediately, the migration online for all students was necessitated by a spike in COVID-19 cases nearing 400 students.
“As we have noticed the numbers in our community rise over time, the numbers show that the community spread is over 1500 per 100,000 people,” Jones said in a press conference. “That’s a very concerning number, and I’ve come to believe that in some cases, individuals are getting Covid and bringing it to school, and then they’re continuing to spread.”
In order to keep the community safe, Jones declared a two-week move online starting Sept. 7, and lasting until Sept. 20, meaning Bibb County schools will be back in person Monday.
“This was a hard decision, it was a very hard decision,” Jones said. “And so what the community can do to make sure this is only a two week period, is keep wearing a mask, be careful over Labor Day weekend, if you can go out and get your child vaccinated if you can go ahead and get a vaccine as well.”
Jones said he was confident that Bibb County schools were safe and that the measures suggested by the CDC that they put in place keep them that way. In his statement, he asked the Macon community to come alongside the school in its efforts.
“We need to just recognize, school for students in-person, is the best place to be, and that’s what we want,” he said. “And I’m hopeful that this short recess is something that will let us get back to school so we don’t have to continue this again.”
Henry Keating '24 is a Journalism and History student at Mercer. He has worked at The Cluster as SGA correspondent, State and Local News Editor, Managing Editor and now as the Editor-in-Chief. Henry has held internships at the Macon Newsroom, Macon Telegraph, and Greenville Post and Courier. He enjoys backpacking, rom-coms, pottery and photography.
