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Bibb County Schools superintendent talks back-to-school in Q&A for parents

The school district will either return with in-person learning or continue remote learning.

MACON, Ga. — Even though we're in the middle of summer, a lot of parents are looking ahead to the school year and wondering what it might look like as the pandemic continues.

Bibb County school leaders answered questions about the upcoming year Thursday night in a virtual Q&A. 

Curtis Jones, the superintendent of Bibb County Schools, told parents their children are returning to school for either in-person or online learning this fall. The school district is no longer considering a hybrid model which would have been a mix of both.

Jones says the school system will decide on which method of learning two weeks before the school year starts. Right now, they're preparing for both.

If it's in-person learning, Jones says they're putting in place several precautions.

"Expect your child to wash their hands almost hourly. When children go to school, we'll be do temperature checks. We're going to be social distancing."

Students should also expect to wear a mask.

"If they're in the front office, wearing a mask. If they're going through the cafeteria area, they're wearing a mask," Jones said. 

Jones says students won't be eating lunch in the cafeteria. Instead, they'll eat in their classrooms. 

The schools will also limit how many students are in the hallway. The district is considering teachers going room-to-room for class change instead, particularly for middle schools, Jones said. 

Throughout the presentation, parents were allowed to submit questions like this one:

"Prior to COVID-19, there wasn't soap or paper towels in restrooms. How are we suppose to be confident that our children have access to proper sanitation?" a parent wrote.

 A moderator in the chat says that problem has been resolved. Jones says they're focused on enforcing sanitation measures. 

Now, if they do e-learning, students would have live interactions with their teachers,  as well as offline assignments. 

"They'll give some assignments early, but they'll have some times where students can dial in and seek instruction while the teacher is presenting it," Jones said. 

The School System says they'll announce whether they'll do in-person or online learning on Aug. 25, two weeks before the school year starts.

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