By Monroe Roark

Times Correspondent

  As of this week, all public school students who want to be back in the classroom in Henry County are there.

  While the district still allows families to choose remote learning if they wish, the final phase of the return-to-campus plan formulated more than a month ago was given the official go-ahead by the Henry County Board of Education at an October 19 special called meeting.

  District officials began to bring students back to campus on a split schedule in late September. Students receiving special education services in a self-contained program were allowed to return to campus five days a week starting in Phase 2.

  All students in pre-K through 8th grade were allowed to return to school five days a week starting the first week of October, with high school students remaining on a split schedule until the board’s recent action.

  Utilizing the current health metrics in the county and within the school district along with a healthcare official-approved plan, Superintendent Mary Elizabeth Davis presented an option to move forward October 26 with Phase 4.  High school students choosing on-campus learning are now able to return to the school building five days a week.

  “Our numbers continue to be well below the threshold that has been set to indicate unfavorable conditions in our county,” said Davis. “We continue to be aware of the health metrics and have gone so far as to make them publicly available to our community members. Our purpose with this final phase of returning to our campuses is to allow for that full-week return for high school students choosing to learn on campus. Students wanting to remain remote will continue to have that option.”

  A hybrid learning option remains available for all families in the district. Families selecting either option can change their minds after their initial selection, but district officials encourage them to stick with their selection for an extended period to ensure stability for the child.

  Initial selections by families showed that just over 36 percent opted to return their children to on-campus learning and 64 percent chose to keep their children learning in a remote environment. This means just over 15,000 students have returned to a Henry County Schools building.