Stafford Elementary School teachers, from left, Melissa Rigmaiden, Debbie Judd, Leslie Laden and Erin Russell try out proposed hardware updates designed to enhance learning in the hybrid, virtual, and in-person learning models at the Alvin York Bandy Administrative Complex in Stafford County on Monday, Nov. 2, 2020.
As COVID-19 case numbers continue to rise in the Fredericksburg region, some school divisions have announced a virtual start to the new semester.
STAFFORD
Stafford County Public Schools announced Tuesday that all students—even those elementary students who had returned to school buildings prior to the break—will attend school virtually Jan. 4–8.
“Students will return to their regularly scheduled learning model the following week,” a press release from the school division states. “Additional adjustments to the schedule will be made if warranted.”
Stafford school buildings will be open the first week of January for students who use the division’s internet cafés, students with certain individualized education plans and certain cosmetology and firefighting students.
FREDERICKSBURG
City Public Schools delayed the start of its hybrid program, which was to have begun for the majority of students Jan. 4.
Instead, all students will continue with virtual learning from home for the first two weeks of the new semester, “due to the possibility of a surge in COVID-19 cases following winter break,” according to an announcement posted on the school division’s website.
Following the two-week delay, students in kindergarten through 12th grade who have chosen the hybrid option will attend school for two half days a week, beginning either Jan. 19 or Jan. 21, depending on which of four zones they have been assigned to.
