As Alabama heads into the Labor Day holiday, and with students and teachers wearing masks and practicing social distancing wherever possible, school districts across the state are taking stock of how the opening of schools has gone so far.
There are a lot of different approaches, but all across the state, K-12 schools are continuing to move forward with school, whether by remote learning, two-day-a-week schedules, or full five-day-a-week in-person learning.
And in spite of this school year being like none other before it, administrators say everything seems to be going pretty well.
Except for one notable exception: fans at football games.
Pictures of fans not practicing social distancing at games have raised eyebrows across the state and nation, and school officials have taken to social media to plead with fans to do a better job.
“We must wear practice social distancing and wearing our masks when six feet of social distancing can’t be maintained,” Roanoke City Schools Superintendent Chuck Marcum said in a video posted to YouTube Friday.
“All schools across the state have been put on notice by the Alabama High School Athletic Association and the Alabama State Department of Education that we must do a better job in these two areas if we want to continue to have high school football this season.”
High school football fans aside, schools are marching forward despite rising coronavirus cases and apart from outbreaks on Alabama’s college campuses.
Though the number of COVID-19 cases among students and teachers isn’t being widely reported, there are a few districts who are sharing those numbers, and in recent days, it looks like the number remains small.
Only two Alabama schools have closed buildings due to outbreaks. But the effects have been felt in many systems, as hundreds of students around the state were quarantined under initial guidelines released by the Alabama Department of Public Health.
ADPH revised those guidelines on Aug. 24, drawing a line between major and minor symptoms and calling for isolation and quarantine only for those with major symptoms and their “close contacts.”
That change appears to have cut down on the number of students quarantining, but without a statewide database, reportedly in the works, it’s hard to know for sure.
Tuscaloosa County schools, which started back to class on Aug. 20, reported 29 students and fewer than 10 faculty and staff members tested positive for COVID-19 during the first two weeks of school.
Dale County, in south Alabama, reports on positive cases through the district’s Facebook page, and a quick count shows fewer than a dozen cases there since school opened.
Albertville City schools in northeast Alabama, reported three students and one teacher tested positive for COVID-19 since Aug. 24 when they opened, and 162 of their 4,600 in-person students are quarantining.
Elmore County Superintendent Richard Dennis is posting regular updates on Facebook and said Friday that over the past week, five students and six employees reported testing positive for COVID-19.
Related: Alabama could soon make public the data on COVID-19 cases in schools
With relatively few cases connected to schools being reported, especially as compared to college outbreaks, some schools are announcing more in-person class time than when they first opened.
Some districts that started virtual-only have announced plans to reopen for in-person classes, and those that started with small groups on alternate days have announced plans to return to daily in-person classes. Ten school districts will start classes after Labor Day.
Related: Madison, Huntsville schools head back to class in September
Some families in two of the state’s largest districts, Mobile County and Jefferson County, are pushing for a quick return to in-person classes from their current remote-only learning. Petitions have been started by parents in both districts, requesting schools to open for in-person learning.
With as many as 70% of students statewide doing remote learning—either by choice or because the district is only offering remote learning—officials are working to improve access internet connectivity and get food to students who are learning remotely.
Vouchers for internet service for low-income families have been mailed, and schools got the okay to serve free meals to all children under 18 again, easing the burden somewhat for families struggling in the wake of the pandemic.
Related: Alabama school meals free again thanks to USDA waiver
Access to internet services fast enough to allow students to stream live classes continues to be a problem.
School buses outfitted with WiFi are parked across the state to allow students to connect and get their school work done.
But with temperatures still in the 90s across the state, there are certainly challenges to doing it this way. Montgomery’s WSFA-TV highlighted a group of teenagers that have to park next to a bus outfitted with WiFi for multiple hours in 90-degree temperatures—not an optimal way to learn.
Some districts are still struggling to get all of the devices they’ve ordered for students, in spite of having access to plenty of federal money to pay for them.
“We actually have 141,000 devices on backorder in Alabama,” State Superintendent Eric Mackey said during a Facebook live discussion with U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell on Wednesday.
School officials are stepping up their efforts to help students and families struggling with the technical aspect of doing school online, but social media is full of posts from frustrated parents and family members still getting used to remote learning.
Finding enough personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies also remains a challenge for schools according to Mackey. In spite of having enough money to pay for supplies and schools making good cleaning and sanitation plans, Mackey said, “It will be a constant hassle to make sure we have enough supplies and that the supply chain is there.”
Gov. Kay Ivey on Wednesday announced the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is sending Alabama another 2.4 million masks for schools and colleges.
Meanwhile, some schools are finding their own solutions to cleaning supply shortages.
There are no plans for widespread coronavirus testing in K-12 schools in Alabama, but at least one local system started to offer tests. Mountain Brook City schools announced it will be offering testing for students and teachers.
We’re also getting a glimpse of what class looks like in a socially-distanced, mask-wearing way thanks to social media posts—most schools aren’t allowing visitors, and that includes the media.
Schools are sharing posts showing what remote learning looks like, too.
And in a rare throwback to a normal school year, it’s budget season! School boards are holding budget hearings online in many districts, so if you’ve never tuned in, now’s a good time.
Last but not least, state officials are making a last big push in 32 counties with low response rates to complete the Census, offering $65,000 for public schools to the county which posts the highest week-over-week rate—in competition with a county with a similar response rate—over the next four weeks.