THIS STORY IS PRESENTED IN PART BY DRAKE DENTISTRY

-Press Release, Granville County Public Schools

On Tuesday, July 14, 2020, Governor Cooper announced that all schools will open this fall under the state’s “Plan B.” Plan B includes moderate social distancing, in which only half of the students may physically report to school at a given time, while the other half of the students will participate remotely.

This is a balanced, flexible approach that also includes extensive daily screening and cleaning processes as well as a requirement for ALL students and staff to wear a face mask while at school.

Our Board of Education recently approved the general framework for Plan B in GCPS, which includes two separate groups of students alternating between two consecutive days of face-to-face school each week, with Wednesday being a remote learning day for all students. So, essentially, students will physically report to school for two days of “face-to-face” learning at school and remain at home for three days of remote learning each week.

Our Board also approved a provision to allow the district to begin this schedule on August 17, 2020, using a ‘staggered entry’ approach. This means for the first two weeks of school, smaller groups of students will physically report to school in order to learn and understand the new screening processes, social distancing expectations, use of PPE and modified class schedules.

This school year, all students and parents will be learning about many new expectations, processes and procedures for how school will operate. Therefore, it is important that we do this with smaller groups of students in a staggered manner, initially, to ensure the safety of everyone on our campuses.

Granville Early College High School will also operate under Plan B, but with a modified format, which will be different from all other schools. Their individual plan will accommodate VGCC’s decision to have all of its courses delivered in an online format only.

GCPS is committed to providing CHOICES to our families. Starting later this week, families can expect to receive additional information about how to sign-up for other choices they have available. This process, known as “SaFE”, or Sign-up for Fall Entry,” will allow parents who do NOT want their children to physically report to school under Plan B to either: (1) apply to Granville Academy (our K-12 blended learning school); or (2) receive full remote instruction at their base school. We want parents to feel comfortable about their decision for their children. Everyone should remain on the lookout for more information about the “SaFE” process in the next few days.

Finally, GCPS will join a number of other districts in extending the suspension of all athletic activities until the NCHSAA gives further guidelines following Governor Roy Cooper’s announcement today. We understand that may come later in this process. Therefore, summer workouts that were planned to begin on July 20 will be suspended until further notice. All other non-athletic extracurricular activities are suspended until further notice, as well.

We understand that this is a very difficult and stressful time for our families and students. We will continue to provide frequent communication and updates to our families using our automated phone system, emails, social media, our district website and our partners in the local media.