Dr. Evan Horton, Superintendent, Coweta County School System
Coweta’s schools ended the first semester on Friday for the Christmas and New Year’s break.
Along with our 22,000 students and 3,000 staff members, I, too, am looking forward to the opportunity to celebrate the season, spend time with my family, and find time for rest after a long and difficult year.
Before we do, I want to express my gratitude toward Coweta County School System faculty and staff. School personnel ended a successful first semester under extraordinarily difficult circumstances, including providing successful in-person instruction for the two-thirds of our students who have opted for it. In this and in other endeavors – during an unpredictable, unprecedented and nerve-wracking year – I have seen our teachers and support personnel rise to meet challenge after challenge.
Last March, when the pandemic began and our schools closed by state order, it was not clear how we would conclude the school year. Our schools, system personnel and teachers rose to the occasion and quickly established a temporary remote framework to continue working with students through the early stages of COVID-19, despite having never operated in such an all-virtual learning environment.
Beyond those early efforts, our teachers, administrators and support personnel devoted themselves to creating a completely new teacher-centered online platform. They undertook converting the entirety of our grade and subject-matter curriculum into digital format. While we were committed to returning to in-person instruction as soon as possible, it was clear that many of our families would rather opt for continued virtual instruction, and that the same virtual instruction would be needed if and when COVID-19 impacted school operations or student attendance. Again, our faculty and staff delivered.
Last summer – as we prepared for a new school year, and as a severe second spike of the disease arose in July and August – it was not clear how we would start the school year. There simply was no road map to safely open and operate our schools. In consultation with local and state authorities, we began virtually on Aug. 13 with a commitment to start optional face-to-face instruction by Sept. 8, with strong mitigative measures in place. We met that commitment. Elementaries opened, and middle and high schools began in hybrid and then returned to weekly regular instruction as the semester went on.
Though COVID-19 has continued to be a reality in our community, we have had 14 weeks of successful in-person classes and limited extracurricular activities since Sept. 8. And though we have experienced a third spike of the disease in our community since October, our employees and administrators remained committed to preventative measures to minimize spread and finish the first semester. The same measures will remain in place as we start back Jan. 5.
Our teachers taught, persevered and innovated throughout. They have conducted classes through an often difficult dual-track format, providing instruction to all students whether virtual or in-person. Their devotion to their students, schools and profession has been evident throughout. My thanks and admiration also go to many others...
– Bus drivers, who have faithfully driven routes for students since September.
– School nutrition staff who have fed students daily in school, but also fed children in pick-up meal service throughout the summer and fall since the onset of the pandemic.
– School maintenance workers and custodians who have kept our schools operating, and performed additional cleaning as a mitigative measure against the virus.
– Support personnel and counselors who have helped develop new virtual systems and provided support for schools and families.
– Nurses who have provided front-line care and screening in our schools, and system nurses who have worked incredibly long hours under difficult circumstances to provide contact tracing and support services to schools.
– School Resource Officers and other support personnel who have kept our schools safe.
– School administrators and office workers who have provided steady leadership, implemented safety plans, juggled schedules, and supported students and staff.
– Our Board of Education members, who have remained strong in their leadership of our school system and clear in their mission of putting our community’s children first in their decisions.
Our school system is also indebted to local and state health authorities for their guidance. We are grateful to the many parents and community members who have shown us support and patience as we navigated these last several months. I encourage you, if you have the opportunity, to thank a teacher, bus driver, school nurse or other school employee for what they have done. I am proud of what they have accomplished for children and families, and I encourage you to let them know you are, too.
Thank you for your continued support. I wish everyone a happy, healthy and restful holiday.
Dr. Evan Horton
Superintendent, Coweta County School System
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