HALEYVILLE CITY SCHOOLS

BOARD OF EDUCATION
2011 Twentieth Street 

Haleyville, Alabama 35565 

www.haley-k12.al.us 

Dr. Holly W. Sutherland Telephone: 205.486.9231 

SUPERINTENDENT Fax: 205.486.8833 

August 6, 2020


Dear Haleyville City Schools Parent(s) or Guardian(s),

Student safety is a top priority for Haleyville City Schools. Because we value the dedication and commitment of our stakeholders such as our parents, aunts/uncles, grandparents, guardians and community. we strive to be transparent in all planning and preparation even in the uncertain times we currently live in. Many of you have heard the variety of reopening plans that districts around the state have decided to use. We are monitoring all of these plans and ideas, trying to determine what the next steps would be if we were to have a spike in cases in Haleyville or Winston County, if we were to have students become ill, if we have employees become ill, if we have band members become ill, if we have athletes become ill, etc… We have to consider all possibilities and plan for the unknown so that we are ready (or as ready as possible) for a reduction in traditional instruction days or an overall switch to a virtual platform for a period of time.

We feel at this time it is our responsibility to share our ideas and plans so that Haleyville City Schools, our parents/guardians and our community are on the same page as to how we will communicate illnesses within our schools as well as when looking into future scheduling possibilities.

Our plan of how to handle COVID-19 cases follows the Alabama Department of Public Health as well as the CDC guidelines we received this week. This plan is not flexible and must be followed according to these advising agencies. You will find a brief outline of the plan below.

The schedule options below are the options we will follow if our data shows that we need to try new strategies to reduce the spread of COVID-19 by increasing social distancing or going to a 100% virtual format. The change to an alternate schedule could happen very quickly, so we wanted to share our plans so that you all could prepare. We hope that we stay on Plan A and increase to a 5-day week very soon, but we also know that there is potential that this might not happen. We will provide as much time as possible as we transition, but cannot promise that this will not be a quick shift if we see a need based on student and employee safety.

If you have a question or concern, please contact your building administrator or Central Office and we will assist in any way possible. We are going to have a great year in HCS! See everyone on August 20th!

Dr. Holly W. Sutherland

 

Haleyville City Schools 
Parent/Guardian Information 
2020-2021

How will HCS handle COVID-19 cases in schools?

1) When a student has a fever as the day begins and they are screened or has a symptom of COVID-19, he/she will be sent immediately to the school nurse. 
~ All students are immediately removed from classroom and classroom cleaned and disinfected according to CDC guidelines.
2) The school nurse will isolate the student in our CARE rooms, which are rooms prepared for students to sit in as they are evaluated by the school nurse as well as it is where they will wait on a parent. Nurses will gather appropriate information about potential students in close contact.
~ The student should be picked up by a parent if an elementary, middle or high school (non-driver) within 30 minutes.
~ High School students who are drivers can be released to leave if parent speaks to administration
3) Student should seek further medical attention if at all possible.
4) If Positive- Student must quarantine for 10 days and not return until he/she is fever and symptom free for 24 hours without medication.
5) If Negative- student may return to school with doctor’s note/diagnosis of illness other than COVID-19
6) School Nurse will work with the Alabama Department of Public Health to determine if other close contacts need to be notified. Close contact will be determined by the within 6 feet for over 15-minute rule. ADPH will be the contact tracing agency and will contact parents and advise them about quarantine length.}
~ Please answer if the ADPH attempts to contact you.

Haleyville City Schools has created a COVID-19 Notification Button on the homepage of the HCS webpage. Anyone can click on the link to see the positive cases that have been verified by a health care professional. According to FERPA and HIPPA regulations, we will only indicate that a student or employee has tested positive, the last date they were on campus and the earliest date they could return to campus. This will be the only notification we will provide. Below is a picture of where the button is located on the front page of our website as well as the website address.

https://sites.google.com/hcspride.com/haleyvillecityschools/home

Haleyville City Schools 
Plans A-C for Attending School
2020-2021 

Plan A: Current HCS Schedule

First day of school for the majority (virtual and traditional) of our students is August 20th, 2020. We stagger Kindergarten as well as Pre-School for the first 2 days. All students are in school on August 24th, 2020. Traditional students will attend HCS for 4 days during the week with Wednesday being a Virtual Learning Day for all Students. 100% Virtual students will be in the virtual platform daily. HCS teachers will work at school every day from 7:45-3:15 and will be conducting virtual lessons, using Zoom and other virtual platforms to correspond and connect with students and will provide activities for their students to complete on Wednesdays. The goal will be for all students to become familiar with the virtual learning platform. We understand that this will be a learning process and students will be given time to learn and master the online platform. HCS will be working with those students and families without high-speed internet to assist in finding resources, deploying buses with Wi-Fi hotspots to areas where accessibility is limited and using new federal/state grants to attempt to assist all HCS students with connect ability.

**As soon as we feel it is safe to return to the 5-day traditional calendar and all students as well as teachers are comfortable with the virtual format, we will transition back to a 5-day traditional schedule.

You will find the 2020-2021 school calendar posted on our website: https://sites.google.com/hcspride.com/haleyvillecityschools/school-calendar?authuser=0

Plan B: Staggered Traditional Days to Reduce School Capacity

Under this plan, we will keep the same school calendar, but students will attend traditional school for 2 days a week and be virtual or complete at home activities and assignments 3 days a week. 

**Please note that our goal is to provide as much face to face instruction as possible and we understand that this type of schedule puts great burdens on our working families. We hope that we do not have to implement this plan, but only think it is fair to share with you what could happen if we feel that data supports a reduction in school capacity.

To ensure that all families are in school on the same day, each school will assign students to either a Monday/Thursday or a Tuesday/Friday schedule of traditional learning with all students being virtual on Wednesday as in the original schedule to deep clean and disinfect buildings and buses. This will allow us to have half of our students in traditional classes each day and social distance to a greater degree. Your child will have the same teacher as originally posted, but we might be more creative in how we ensure that mastery of all content is ensured. All teachers will be working normal hours 7:45-3:15 and will be available to you and your child. They will be using a wide variety of teaching tools both traditional and virtual to support your student, including the state adopted virtual curriculum, SchoolsPLP. Under this plan, students would have face to face instruction one day and then be given virtual and traditional assignments the following day to complete. This plan would also allow us to send meals home for the days they are not on campus- either paid, reduced or free.

If we see the need to move to Plan B, we will set a time frame that we will follow this plan, such as 4 weeks on Plan B, and then reassess our data. Our goal will be to transition back to the 4/1 plan and then to a 5-day week as soon as it is safe.

Plan C: All HCS Students are 100% Virtual

Under this plan, all HCS student will attend classes virtually with the continued support of their assigned teachers. Teachers will assign virtual content from the state adopted virtual curriculum, SchoolsPLP, as well as will require virtual meetings and collaboration. Teachers will be working normal hours 7:45-3:15 in their classrooms. They will be available not only for assistance, but will be providing live or recorded lessons, activities and assignments for your students.

This online format will be MUCH different from the spring. Your students will have to log on, complete assignments, complete activities, interact and connect with teachers or they will not pass the content and could risk not being promoted to the next grade or graduating from HCS.

If we see the need to move to Plan C, we will set a time frame that we will follow this plan, such as 4 weeks on Plan C, and then reassess our data. Our goal will be to transition back to the 2/3 plan, to the 4/1 plan and then to a 5-day week as soon as it is safe.