School year will have virtual start

At its August 11 meeting, the Goochland School Board voted to virtually start the 20-21 school year on August 24. Students with inadequate access to broadband, or other issues may attend socially distanced learning spaces in school facilities to access virtual lessons. Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jeremy Raley promised that the school division will work with every family to ensure that all students have access to educational experiences and materials regardless of their circumstances.

This was a heart wrenching decision for all involved. During the school board meeting, Raley said that, since May, all members of “Team Goochland” have been working to devise methods of virtual teaching. He pledged that virtual instruction during the upcoming school year will be better than the spring experience, when the schools were closed for the remainder of the year without notice.

In July, the school board approved a hybrid of online and in person start to the school year. Since then, as the number of positive Covid tests has risen in Goochland—increasing by one or two daily— and in the region, the plan was revisited. Many people who live in the county work and shop elsewhere. People who work here live elsewhere. This provides far too many opportunities for the virus, which ignores county boundaries, to cross pollinate and spread the pestilence.

As Raley outlined concerns about in person opening, it became clear that school divisions, even a relatively small one like Goochland, have many moving parts that must work together to teach children. Mitigation strategies and other facets of the plan were crafted in conjunction with the Chickahominy Health District.

The board and school administration said that the plan is flexible and will be reevaluated as conditions change. To read the plan go to https://docs.google.com/a/glnd.k12.va.us/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=Z2xuZC5rMTIudmEudXN8c2ItYWdlbmRhc3xneDo2YWZlYTM0OWMxY2IzOWVk. This plan represents a monstrous amount of work by many people.

Thoughtful heartfelt comments made by school board members, who have been bombarded with communications from parents on all sides of the question, show that these fine folks: Sandra Barefoot-Reid, District 1; William Quarles, Jr., District 2; Karen Horne, District 3; Mike Newman, District 4; and board chair John Wright, District 5, are true public servants. They made a hard decision that probably pleased few of those involved.

The upcoming school year will be vastly different from any other. While the challenges of “maximizing the potential if every learner” are great, there will be opportunities to reevaluate how learning happens. The core values of Goochland Schools—excellence, creativity, courage, honor, and optimism—are a road map through Covid disruption. May these trying times teach useful lessons about navigating the troubled waters of the unknown.

Go to the school website http://goochlandschools.org/ to learn more about our schools.