As the new school year begins, the Hall County School District continues to be proud of the effort put forth by team members, students, parents, and local health officials in creating a safe and meaningful learning environment for the boys and girls of our district.

This page will provide you with upcoming guidelines for the opening of school in August of 2021. Please note that these guidelines are subject to change based on COVID-19 numbers in our community. Throughout the school year, we will rely on data, as well as advice from local healthcare professionals and the Department of Public Health to make informed decisions.

If you have follow up questions to any of the information provided here, please begin by reaching out to your local school.

Once again, we appreciate the cooperation and support of all families and team members, and we look forward to a safe and successful 2021-22 school year.

¡Bienvenido a Reconnect Hall – Agosto de 2021!

A medida que empieza el nuevo año escolar, el HCSD sigue estando orgulloso del esfuerzo realizado por los miembros del equipo, los estudiantes, los padres y los funcionarios de salud locales para crear un entorno de aprendizaje seguro y significativo para los niños y niñas de nuestro distrito.

Esta página le proporcionará las próximas pautas para la apertura de escuelas en agosto de 2021. Tenga en cuenta que estas pautas están sujetas a cambios según los números concernientes al COVID-19 en nuestra comunidad. A lo largo del año escolar, nos basaremos en los datos, así como en los consejos de los profesionales de la salud locales y del Departamento de Salud Pública para tomar decisiones informadas.

Si tiene preguntas complementarias sobre la información proporcionada aquí, empiece por comunicarse con su escuela local.

Una vez más, agradecemos la cooperación y el apoyo de todas las familias y miembros del equipo, y esperamos un año escolar 2021-2022 seguro y exitoso.

HCSD COVID Update, 8/19/2021

• Vaccines keep adults alive. We encourage all medically able individuals to consider vaccination with their health care provider. At our 8/23/2021 meeting, I will be recommending to our board of education that we provide a one-time $400 supplement to all HCSD employees who show proof of being fully COVID vaccinated prior to October 15, 2021.
• Georgia hospitals have 50 pediatric COVID cases, an increase of 22 cases in recent weeks (source AJC article, 8/18/2021); we have between 1.8-2 million school age children in Georgia.
• Anxiety, depression, and mental illness rates have risen dramatically since the pandemic began. Our HCSD parent data suggests that mitigation strategies (masks, quarantine, social distancing, capacity limits, etc.) have been a negative factor for 46% of our families, and a positive factor for 21% of our families. (Source HCSD parent survey)
• We estimate that we lost 40-70 students who dropped out of school last year that would normally have graduated; this would translate to 3,000-4,000 students across Georgia. (HCSD has approximately 1.6% of Georgia student population)
• Randomized Clinical Trials to test the effectiveness of wearing masks do not yet exist; we do have case studies that suggest masking slows transmission rates. That has also been our local experience.
• While not a clinical trial, we look at mid-sized districts in Georgia to ascertain positive COVID cases with masking and without masking. Examples:
  • District A: 12,000 students, masks required, 100 positive cases
  • District B: 22,000 students, masks required, 214 positive cases
  • Hall County Schools: 27,000 students, masks recommended, 229 positive cases
• As of yesterday, a DPH representative again confirmed that at this time, there is no evidence that school-aged children have been significant sources of COVID transmission. A noon webinar with CHOA today also expressed school-age transmission is coming from community.
• Local pediatricians and our hospital system are experiencing an increase in the number of children with more severe COVID symptoms.
• Hall County COVID Data since pandemic began:
  • Age 5-9
    • 5 hospitalizations, 0 deaths
  • Age 10-17
    • 33 hospitalizations, 0 deaths

We continue to monitor conditions multiple times throughout each day and will make adjustments as conditions change or as new information is made available.