The Fulton County Board of Education held their monthly work session at 6 p.m. on July 22, 2021.

At 6:00 p.m. on July 22, the Fulton County Board of Education met for their monthly board meeting.

• District 2 Board Member Katie Reeves congratulates schools on programs (Roswell High School Japanese program and Vickery Mill Elementary School summer program for rising kindergarten students).

• District 4 Board Member Francesca Warren mentions that Zone 3 students took part in a program with the Fulton County DA and congratulates reward schools (top 5% of title 1 schools in the state).

• District 5 Board Member Linda McCain congratulates Chattahoochee High School student inducted to GA lacrosse hall of fame, 6 RTMS students for being Brightspark Design Challenge finalists, and the Medlock Bridge Elementary training program for students and staff.

• District 6 Board Member and Vice President Kimberly Dove Dove begins board matters with discussion of the success of summer schools

• Looney takes the mic, introduces event named First Day Fulton

  • The event serves the purpose of meet and greets, free food giveaways, and school registration and paperwork will be available to be completed.

  • The event will be hosted at Banneker High School (for South Fulton) and North Springs High School (for North Fulton) on July 31 at 10 am.

  • Vaccines will be available at this event.

• COVID-19 Management Report

  • For August 9, all protocols from last year (with the exception of mask requirements) will be in place for this year.

  • Adjustments may be made throughout the year as new data emerges

  • Based on transmission at the local level and data from the summer session, the risk associated with Covid-19 and its variants is manageable at the moment.

• Ron Wade, Chief Talent Officer, Talent/Human Resources, takes the mic to detail mandatory COVID-19 guidelines for the upcoming school year.

  • COVID-19 reporting (for positives, pending tests, and direct exposure) for employees will be processed through an employee portal (similar to the parent portal) for reporting, contact tracing and response team,

  • Employees will have to report their vaccination status.

  • People who meet the requirements for quarantining will have to quarantine, and employees will have to use personal leave if they need to quarantine. Vaccinated staff and students can waive quarantine if they provide proof of vaccination.

  • Staff and students who tested positive for COVID-19 within the past 3 months but are symptom free will not be required to quarantine.

  • Masks required on school buses and public transportation. 

• Wade then proceeds to highlight the recommended health guidelines.

  • This guidelines include getting vaccinated, mask-wearing, social distancing, hand-washing and clean workspaces, and limiting nonessential visitors.

  • All visitors will be asked to do a wellness check.

  • Staff members will be asked to avoid nonessential gatherings.

• 80% of Fulton employees who completed the staff survey are fully vaccinated.

• The board then proceeds to discuss logistical adjustments for the upcoming school year.

  • Cliff Jones, Chief Academic Officer, explains that quarantining student supports include online communication platforms such as Class Dojo, asynchronous lessons, and partnerships with tutoring and academic support companies.

  • Looney: No adjustments will be made to the closing matrix; the matrix used last year will be the matrix used this year. The default setting is to have school face-to-face if it is safe to do so. If there is a significant level of outbreak, then a specific school may be asked to close. 

  • Warren asks about practicality of social distancing in the classroom with a large number of schools returning to school. 

  • Looney: Enrollment number is still unknown, because many parents need to register their children for the fall semester. If there are vacant classrooms and an appropriate number of staff, then students will be spread out.

    • All measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 such as screening, disinfection, and ventilation will be taken. The county will need to expand the availability of seats at Fulton Virtual Academy to 1500. Parents and principals will be notified tomorrow of this option. 

  • McCain: COVID-19 responses will be to the local community and not the county as a whole. Having students in the classroom in person is the county’s number one priority. The county will be monitoring cases at the local level and adjusting protocol as needed.

  • Reeves adds that bullying will not be tolerated, regardless of whether students and staff are wearing a mask or not.

  • As more students are vaccinated and more quarantines are needed, Fulton will collect information on vaccination status for students 12 and older. Proof will be needed for students who wish to waive quarantine; there is a mechanism in place for students to send in proof of vaccination.  

  • In addition, Fulton will not be providing meningitis vaccine for rising 11th grade students, and it will just provide information on the vaccine instead.

• The board proceeds to discuss the budget items on the agenda, and passes all.

• The board votes to changes employees’ 235-day work calendar in recognition of Juneteenth federal holiday, and passes motion to reduce the calendar by one work day

• The board amends city of Atlanta‘s polling hours in the SPLOST resolution; rather than opening at 7 am and closing at 7 pm, polls will now remain open until 8 pm.

  • Atlanta is holding a general election Nov. 2.

• District 7 Board Member Julia Bernath adjourns the meeting.

• The next board meeting will be Thursday, Aug. 12 at the North Learning Center.