Wilson county schools announced Thursday afternoon that all schools will be transitioning back to the hybrid model.
This transition comes after the district was placed on remote for the last two weeks of the fall semester. MJHS, however, had been on the remote schedule for a total of five weeks when the announcement was made.
"Wilson County Schools will return to school next week in our Hybrid Teaching & Learning Model, " Bart Barker reported. "The reason for the one week [sic] determination of teaching and learning plans rather than the usual two week [sic] transition is due to the timing coming out of our recent holiday break."
The district will reevaluate the "key metrics" data on Wednesday, January 20, and announce the updated plan the following day.
In order to determine a transition between hybrid or remote schedules, the county looks at "key metrics" which include daily cases per 100,000 people, infection rate, and teacher availability.
Wednesday, Jan. 13, Tennessee reported 4,341 new positive cases along with 131 new deaths. 3,193 were also hospitalized due to severe COVID-19 symptoms. The average per 100,000 residents was 90 cases, up 10 percent from the past 14 days.
On that same day, Wilson county reported 68 new positive cases along with 2 new deaths. The average per 100,000 residents was 76 cases.
Below are our charts representing the current trend of COVID-19 positive cases and resulting quarantines for Wilson County Schools.
"While we have gathered important information on recent positive COVID-19 cases and quarantines involving our students and staffs, we want to remind our families that if you have not reported a current positive COVID-19 case or quarantine within your household to your respective school, then please do so immediately. If your child is feeling ill during next week’s Hybrid transition, then please do not send your child to school on their designated day," said Barker.
Face coverings and social distancing will still be required for all students in next week’s Hybrid model.
Students need to bring all materials such as chromebooks, chargers, novels, textbooks, and notebooks, among other items, to their designated A/B day next week.
The district's announcement came after a Tennessee General Assembly special session was announced for January 19. The purpose of the session was to encourage school districts to bring students back to the classroom, with one item of focus reported to be around school funding as an incentive.