Guilford County Schools Delaying Reentry For Middle School Students

Guilford County Schools is welcoming back more students to classrooms Tuesday. But some of the district's reopening plan has been modified.

Students in third, fourth, and fifth grades will return to buildings this week. They will join younger elementary students and exceptional children who have been attending in-person classes since November.

But middle schoolers will have to wait a little longer after a two-week delay was announced. They will attend in cohorts. The first group of sixth graders will now return on January 21.  Grades seven and eight will return the following week.

Nora Carr, with Guilford County Schools, says this gives the district additional time to review COVID-19 data, science, and health protocols for this age group.

“It's a challenging time,” she says. “And we understand that people can read the science and the data and come out with different ideas than we have coalesced around and that's why we are trying to give as much choice as possible.”

Carr says parents can also opt for remote learning for their children. As of now, GCS high schools are also scheduled to reopen for in-person learning later this month.  

Carr says that based on recent survey data, around 70 percent of parents have chosen to have their children come back to classrooms. Thirty percent have chosen remote, including those enrolled in virtual academies.

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