Hamilton County Schools will switch to Phase 1 of its coronavirus plan, which means remote learning from home, starting Monday, Dec. 14 and running through Friday, Dec. 18.
The virtual learning will run until the winter break, according to emails from the Hamilton County Department of Education.
The rising numbers of COVID-19 cases in the county pushed the district past a threshold that caused the change.
Hamilton County had switched to a countywide Phase 2 this week, with students going either Monday and Tuesday or Thursday and Friday, with Wednesday being a cleaning day for the facilities. Students spent three weekdays per week learning from home.
The schedule change means Friday will be the final day of in-school learning of 2020 for Hamilton County public school students.
The district has been surveying families about their desires for learning options for the spring semester, which starts in January.
As of Monday, the school district's website stated that the county averaged 2,971 active COVID-19 cases in the past five days, and Phase 1 is suggested when there are 2,940 to 3,680 active cases.
The district's COVID-19 tracker dashboard states there are currently 161 active student cases and 74 active employee cases with 1,811 across the district awaiting test results or described as "close contacts."
- Compiled by Jay Greeson
Due to the rapid rise in COVID-19 cases in our community, we feel it is best at this time to transition to a Phase 1 learning schedule for all students beginning Monday, Dec. 14, through Friday, Dec. 18.https://t.co/Oiwm2xPM7G
— Hamilton County Schools (@hamcoschools) December 10, 2020