Madison County HS and MS on Distance Learning Next Week

Madison County School Superintendent Michael Williams has announced Friday that the Middle and High School will be on distance learning next week, August 23 – 27.

In a letter to parents and guardians on their website, Williams said, “…the health and safety of Madison County staff and students is always at the forefront of decisions. Please know that I want our children to be in school with in-person instruction. However, we must be able to do so safely. As everyone is aware, the COVID-19 numbers declined over the summer, but we have seen a significant increase in our community in the last two weeks. We have continued to monitor the number of COVID-19 positive cases within our school system and our community. There are positive cases in all of our schools. On Monday, August 16, 30 positive student cases were reported in our schools (less than 1%). On Thursday, August 19, there were 60 reported positive cases. Currently, our middle school and high school student cases have increased accounting for over half of the positive cases reported,” he said.

Williams said teachers will have information available for students through email and/or Canvas. Daily schedules will be posted.

However, he said all elementary schools in Madison County will continue in-person classes but with new COVID mitigation strategies in place beginning Monday August 23.

“These mitigation strategies will include: limiting lunchroom capacity to 50%, plexiglass available in classrooms, desks will be spaced apart as much as possible, masks will be worn on school buses and in school when social distancing is not possible. Each school has a mask break plan that was implemented last spring to allow students time throughout the day to remove their masks. Each schools’ mask break plan will be distributed to parents. The mask break plans will be utilized temporarily as we continue to monitor our COVID data which can be found on the district website for weekly updates. As always, if you have questions please contact your child’s teacher or principal,” Williams said in the letter.

“Our goal is to return to in-person instruction on Monday, August 30that both Madison County Middle School and Madison County High School,” he said.

Williams added that school nutrition services will be available next week, and extracurricular activities will continue as scheduled.