DCPS says secondary students on hybrid model can return to full weeks on campus

Jacksonville, FL. — Duval County Public Schools' hybrid model in middle and high schools will be phased out. The announcement came from the district Wednesday evening, just days before the model was set to expire.

Secondary students will be phased back to full-time in-person learning starting with sixth grade on Monday.

“We’ve had a manageable experience with COVID-19 under the hybrid attendance pattern,” Superintendent Dr. Diana Greene said in a statement on the district’s webpage Wednesday. “A measured, phased return to having all students on campus Monday through Friday will be extremely beneficial in bridging to larger attendance in school facilities.”

On September 14, Sixth graders will return to campus Monday through Friday while the rest of secondary students will continue on the hybrid model. Seventh grade will return full-time starting September 21, and high schoolers go back full-time September 28.

Elementary students make up about two-thirds of the total COVID-19 cases district-wide. Those students were never placed on a hybrid model.

Last week, Dr. Greene told Action News Jax she was considering extending the hybrid version for secondary students.

Chris Guerrieri is a teacher at Palm Avenue and said, “it’s ridiculous for them not to extend it. We should do everything we can to keep as many people away and out of the schools as we can.”

Some parents at home are pleased to hear the decision. Sarah Copeland’s two high school-aged children were on the hybrid model. “I want my kids back in school learning from a teacher, not from a computer. If we were going to do that, I would’ve homeschooled them,” she said.

The change does not impact students enrolled in Duval Homeroom or Duval Virtual Academy.

Here are some of those key dates:

• Sept. 14 – Grade six students return to campus Monday through Friday (all other secondary students remain on hybrid)
• Sept. 21 – Grade seven and eight students return to campus Monday through Friday (all high school students remain on hybrid)
• Sept. 28 – High School students return to campus Monday through Friday.

For more information from the school district, click here: https://www.teamduval.org/2020/09/09/secondary-students-on-hybrid-model-to-return-to-full-week-on-campus-in-phased-approach/

Cox Media Group