Hamilton County Schools recently announced the formation of a School Reopening Task Force to begin plans for children to return to school. Keith Fogleman, chief talent officer for Hamilton County Schools, and Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) William T. Brooks, director, JROTC for Hamilton County Schools, will lead the work to plan for the children's return to school in the fall. Fogleman and Lt. Col. Brooks will work with staff, parents, students, business leaders, health professionals, and the community to formulate the plan for schools reopening and children once again learning in the classrooms.

Hamilton County Schools is committed to the health and safety of our students and staff as we seek to immerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and return to classrooms. This unprecedented time for our world has created many significant hurdles for our community. Just as businesses and organizations looking for the best way to resume operation, the school district will examine all processes and procedures as we seek to bring students back to school campuses in the fall. The district recognizes that our school reopening plans have a significant effect on our community. As the task force moves forward with their work, the district will provide regular updates to ensure staff, families, and the community are prepared for what the next school year may look like at our local schools.

There will be four main areas of focus as plans are developed for the reopening of schools. The Task Force will seek to minimize risks to public health, address impacts on student learning and well-being, recognize the importance of the local public school to the community, and they will seek to optimize operational readiness.

We'd like to provide the community some context for the type of phased plan we're considering by sharing some resources we're using to guide our planning.

• McKinsey Report
• NIET
• CDC Guidance

These are only resources and not our official plan. Our plan will be unique to Hamilton County Schools to meet the specific needs of our community.

The School Reopening Task Force will be considering a plan with four phases. The first phase and the last phase of the plan are straight forward. In Phase 1, the risk of spreading COVID-19 would be significant, and all school buildings would be closed with all learning moved online. In Phase 4, there would be no risk of community transmission of COVID-19, and all school buildings would be open and operating at full capacity.

School Reopening Phases

Phase 1: Risk of spreading of COVID-19 is significant. Requires Significant Mitigation.

Potential Scenarios: All schools closed, HCS Continued Learning opportunities provided for all students. Plan to support students well-being and academic development for an extended period of time.

Phase 2: Risk of spreading COVID-19 is moderate. Requires Moderate Mitigation.

Potential Scenarios: Possible reduced on-campus school hours with focus on core-curriculum classes. Blended HCS Continued Learning provided, portion of curriculum taught through remote learning.

Phase 3: Risk of spreading COVID-19 is minimal. Requires Minimal Mitigation.

Potential Scenarios: All schools open, with majority of curriculum delivered on campus. Short term closure procedures implemented for COVID-19 affected buildings and HCS Continued Learning practices are provided.

Phase 4: No risk of community transmission of COVID-19. Requires No Mitigation.

Potential Scenarios: All schools open. Monitor and be prepared to react to identification of COVID-19 positive that affects staff members or students.

Phase 2 and Phase 3 are more complicated, and the task force will be spending the bulk of their time exploring those scenarios and what it will mean for our operations. In both of these scenarios, there will be a need for students and staff to be safely distanced or for some school buildings to be closed. Some of the considerations the task force will explore based on research for Phase 2 and 3 are smaller class sizes, morning and afternoon classes, and students assigned to alternating days or weeks. We will be looking to the community for continued feedback and input throughout the process.

Below is the planning timeline for the School Reopening Task Force. We will continue to provide regular updates leading up to the unveiling of our final plan.

Task Force Co-Chairs

Description of Co-Chairs’ responsibilities: Responsible for organizing the structure and comprehensive development of the District’s reopening plan. Leads Task Force meetings, facilitates discussions, and serves as an interface between the School Reopening Task-force and the District’s leadership team for input, recommendations, and critical feedback.

Co-Chairs:

• Keith Fogleman, Chief Talent Officer for Hamilton County Schools
• Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) William T. Brooks, Director of JROTC for Hamilton County Schools

Task Force Members

Description of members’ responsibilities: Attend and actively participate in the School Reopening Task Force meetings and subcommittee meetings, where applicable; provide role-aligned insight and expertise to inform Reopening priorities and next steps; gather input and expertise from your sector to guide Task Force work; complete information-gathering and reporting tasks with subcommittees, where necessary.