Earlier today, the Cheatham County School District released an updated plan for middle and high school students: • Beginning Monday, Sept. 28, students in grades 5-6 at Cheatham Middle School, Harpeth Middle School and Sycamore Middle School will return to the traditional schedule (in-school five days a week). The hybrid schedule (a combination of in-person and virtual learning) will no longer be available. • Beginning Monday, Oct. 19, students in grades 7-8 at Cheatham Middle School, Harpeth Middle School and Sycamore Middle School will return to the traditional schedule. The hybrid schedule will no longer be available. • Students in grades 9-12 at Cheatham County Central High School, Harpeth High School and Sycamore High School will remain on the hybrid schedule for the remainder of the first semester, which ends Friday, Dec. 18. • Beginning Monday, Oct. 19, high school students who are failing two or more classes needed for graduation (after the first nine-weeks grading period) or have not logged in to their online classes and all-virtual high school students who are not meeting the terms of the virtual learning contract must return to the traditional schedule. Our high schools will be in contact with the families of these students. • Our elementary and middle schools are currently identifying their all-virtual students who are not meeting the terms of the virtual learning contract and requiring them to return to the traditional schedule. • Students who opted for the all-virtual learning model and are passing are not impacted and they will continue with online learning. After surveying high school teachers, consulting with high school administrators and monitoring health data, Director of Schools Dr. Cathy Beck made the recommendation to keep the high schools on the hybrid schedule until the end of the first semester. The Cheatham County School Board supported her recommendation at Thursday’s work session. Beck said it is critical that high school students who are failing, not logging in or not meeting the terms of the virtual learning contract be in school five days a week so they are receiving the instruction they need and not fall further behind academically. According to Beck, the majority of the positive COVID-19 cases in the district have been high school students. Therefore, in order to mitigate the spread of the virus, the district believes it would be beneficial that the high schools remain on the hybrid schedule for the remainder of the first semester. The district hopes that the high schools will return to the traditional schedule after the holiday break if the number of COVID-19 cases remains low. If the district experiences cases of COVID-19, we will contact trace and quarantine based on Tennessee Department of Health guidelines. The district will also continue to respond as quickly as possible so that we can minimize the spread and keep students in school for as long as possible. Additionally, face masks will still be required for students and employees when they are not able to social distance and temperature checks will continue to be taken when everyone enters the building. The district will also encourage everyone to social distance as much as possible and promote frequent hand washing and hand sanitizing.
