After weeks of planning, the Hamilton County Schools Reopening Task Force released its preliminary framework Thursday for returning to school in the fall, including a four-phase instructional plan for face-to-face learning.
Presented to the Hamilton County school board, the framework is based on recommendations from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the state of Tennessee, input from the community, evaluations of other school districts’ plans and more than 20,000 survey responses from parents and teachers.
Rather than a “how to” guide or a “set in stone” plan, the task force said the framework is meant to provide guidance and a foundation with room to adapt as time goes on and more information becomes available.
“If things change, then of course we have to be flexible as well,” said retired Lt. Col. William Brooks, the district’s director of the junior Reserve Officer Training Corps and co-head of the task force. “That’s why we say the plan is not set in stone. We will be flexible. We will adapt over time, based on the situation.”
According to the task force, individual parents will be given the option each semester to have their students participate in phased online and in-person hybrid instruction or to go completely online with the HCS at Home program.