March 16, 2020
Dear Baldwin County School District Families,
While there are currently no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Baldwin County, in the greater interest of public health, the Baldwin County Board of Education unanimously approved a recommendation from Superintendent Dr. Noris Price to close all schools beginning Tuesday, March 17, 2020, through Friday, March 27, 2020. Spring break is scheduled from March 30th through April 3rd. The District will use this time to have the custodial staff conduct deep cleaning in each of our schools. Bus drivers will also use enhanced cleaning measures for cleaning the buses during the closure.
The District will monitor communications from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Department of Public Health, and other state and local agencies to determine if this closure should be extended. In an abundance of caution, all athletic competitions, field trips, and school events are canceled until further notice, including the literacy fair and 5K scheduled for this Saturday.
Home-based instruction will begin Tuesday, March 17, 2020. As we transition from learning at school to learning from home, we want to share some key updates. Today, students received paper packets with lessons/activities focused on essential standards from their teachers and directions on how to access digital lessons using the Google Classroom and Schoology platforms. Teachers provided instruction to students about the assignments they are to complete during the extended school closure. Please visit the BCSD Website, go to the Parents tab and click on Remote Learning. Parents who completed the digital survey and indicated that their children needed a computer will be contacted this week with more information.
Charter Communications has agreed to provide free Spectrum broadband and WiFi access for 60 days in homes with K-12 and/or college students that don’t have an existing Spectrum service plan. Installation fees will be waived for new student households. If you are interested, please call 1-844-488-8395 and mention the COVID-19 free plan. Spectrum are also opening WiFi hotspots for public use.
All Teachers will be available from 9:00 am-12:00 pm and 1:00-3:00 pm weekdays to respond to parent and student emails or messages through Class Dojo, Remind, Google Classroom and/or Schoology. School Counselors will be available for students during this time. Families may email counselors with questions or issues. Our Special Education teachers and support staff are developing a plan to continue offering services to our students. More details will be provided on an individual basis for those students.
Our School Nutrition Department will be providing meals with a “drive-thru” set-up at Midway Hills Academy, Baldwin High School and the Mary Vinson Library effective Tuesday, March 17th and continuing through March 27th. They will also be delivering meals to 39 bus stops using our designated summer meal schedule. A detailed schedule will be posted via our district website at www.baldwincountyschoolsga.org and social media by Tuesday morning. Any person under the age of 18 may receive a bagged meal, which will include breakfast and deli type lunch.
We will continue to provide updates via our website, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. As always, our number one priority is the safety and health of our students and employees. We are also committed to keeping our families and employees up to date on all the information that is shared with us by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Georgia Department of Public Health, North Central Health District, and the Georgia Department of Education.
We appreciate your support during these unprecedented times as we have taken these steps to limit the spread of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus).
Sincerely,
Dr. Noris Price
Superintendent of Schools