District 55 to begin academic year with ‘hybrid’ schedule
Laurens County School District 55 will begin the school year on a hybrid schedule, meaning students attending in-class instruction will do so two days per week. On the other days, students will receive virtual instruction. District 55 Superintendent Ameca Thomas made the announcement Tuesday.
The academic year is still slated to begin on Tuesday, Sept. 8. Some students who have opted out of in-class instruction due to COVID-19 will attend virtual classes via the Laurens County Virtual Academy, a combined effort between Districts 55 and 56.
“According to the current community spread levels reported this week by DHEC, Laurens County’s spread risk is currently ranked as moderate,” Thomas said. “This means that we will start school on Sept. 8, 2020 in the Hybrid Learning Phase (Yellow Phase). For the first week of school, the Green Team will attend on Tuesday, Sept. 8 and Wednesday, Sept. 9. The Gold Team will attend on Thursday, Sept. 10 and Friday, Sept. 11.
“Green” and “Gold” are the designations given to the groups of students who will attend school two days each week on a hybrid schedule. On the other three days of the week, students will be working in an eLearning environment.
District 56 is holding a virtual “ask me anything” forum at 7 p.m. Thursday on its Facebook page for parents and students. The academic yar for District 56 is also set to begin on Sept. 8.
District 55 sent a call alert and email message to all parents. District leaders ask that any parent of an LCSD 55 student who did not receive the call alert or email message contact your school administration to ensure that LCSD 55 has the correct phone numbers and emails in the PowerSchool system.
“We are pleased with the report from DHEC and we are very hopeful that this positive trend will continue and we will soon be able to return to full five day per week face-to-face instruction with our students,” Thomas said. “We ask that everyone continue to observe recommended safety protocols to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in order to help slow its spread.”
