ATLANTA — Atlanta Public Schools is one of the last districts in the metro area to return to class during the coronavirus pandemic. They will begin the school year all virtual.
Rockdale County is also starting on Aug. 24 fully virtual, while Hall County is will use a hybrid model for the first 10 days. Carroll and Meriweather gave students the option to start in-person or online.
APS pushed back its start date by two weeks and may have learned a few things while other metro districts have already begun.
In the past several days, new APS superintendent Lisa Herring said that teachers have been in contact with their students to make sure they have everything they need. They even launched a virtual learning resources website to help parents and students transition smoothly to the new school year.
"There is a need for us to assess where their level of mastery of proficiency may be. When we can identify that, that allows for us to know where to begin with the teaching and learning process," Herring said.
How parents, students are reacting
Even with the first day of classes being fully virtual, Lauren Watts' son is looking forward to starting first grade at Burgess-Peterson Academy.
"The school itself did a virtual open house and we had the opportunity to run by the school and pick up school supplies," Watts said.
She said they also got a chance to do a test call with the teacher to make sure everything ran smoothly. That's why she feels comfortable with the virtual learning heading into the new school year.
"I have been up to date on everything," Watts said. "They've been overly informative on everything so if I had to sum it all up, they've done a fantastic job."
At Michelle Witherspoon's home, she's set up a space for her daughter who is going into first grade at Barack and Michelle Obama Academy.
She also said she feels the Atlanta Public Schools District has done a great job preparing everyone. However, she believes there will be challenges to come since her daughter is more of a hands-on learner.
"She really did not like it in the spring," Witherspoon said. "We think it'll be better but she was tearful today just thinking about getting on tomorrow."
She added that, like other families, she and her husband are adjusting and doing their best with what they've got.
"We're just going to take turns, my husband and I, to give her the assistance that she needs," she said.
APS has more than 50,000 students spread out across 87 schools.