Typo leads Fayette County superintendent to reiterate his commitment to in-person schooling
A typo led Fayette County Schools Superintendent Manny Caulk to send an email to parents Tuesday night to clarify that the school system isn’t planning to have students learning virtually for the entire school year.
Caulk said he sent an email to a member of the community Sept. 28 and “inadvertently left out the word not.” A photo of the email was posted to social media.
“When I saw the post, I immediately realized that I had inadvertently left out the word not. I meant to say that it is ‘not’ our intent, nor has it ever been our intent, to do remote learning for the entire year,” Caulk said in his email to families Tuesday. “In fact, school and district leaders are planning for a possible return to in-person instruction with a hybrid model, phasing in at the elementary level, beginning the week of November 2, 2020. While the health and safety of our staff and the students and families we serve will guide every decision, I have said repeatedly that I believe students learn best in the classroom with their teachers and peers.”
Caulk said he had apologized to the person he sent the original message to and reiterated that he is committed “to reopening schools when we safely can.”
“Please help me spread the word to our community that we are working diligently to plan for every contingency, knowing that, in the words of Dr. Fauci, ‘we don’t determine the timeline; the virus determines the timeline,’” Caulk wrote to families. “Uncertainty, new guidance from the state, new information from local health officials, rising incidence rates, and community discord have created a rapidly changing landscape. I am committed to ensuring that our employees and families have input into the way we move forward. Working together, we will do what’s best for students.”
The hybrid instruction model that might begin the week of Nov. 2 would divide students into two groups, one of which would attend classes in person on Mondays and Tuesdays, while the other group would go to school in person on Thursdays and Fridays. Students would learn from home the remaining three days of the week.
Fayette County schools are also preparing to possibly bring some students back into schools in small groups for up to two hours of tutoring, special education and supplemental learning beginning the week of Oct. 19.
In both instances, elementary students would go back first, with older students being phased in later.
