In March a year ago, Governor Northam issued an executive order closing our school buildings, which left school staff, students, and their families, scrambling to transition to virtual learning.  One year later, I am pleased to announce that the Orange County schools will transition to in-person instruction for all students four days a week with virtual lessons on Fridays.  Those students that would prefer to remain on 100% virtual learning for the remainder of the school year may do so.  The four days a week in-person instruction program will begin on Monday, April 12, 2021.

Although students will have the option of going to school four days a week, the school day will be far from normal.  Masks will continue to be worn, and the students will observe social distancing.  On March 1, the school board passed a motion authorizing a minimum of 3-feet social distancing when the 6-feet option was unfeasible.  That motion, along with the decreasing number of virus infections and the increasing number of vaccinations, enabled the school board to unanimously approve the four days a week in-person instruction program for Pre-K through 12th grade.

Over the last year, we have learned that virtual learning works for some but was inadequate for most students for various reasons.  The most cited reason for poor performance was the lack of Internet access, but there were also other factors.  If a student is highly motivated and has Internet access, virtual learning can be workable.  But we have learned that virtual learning is far from a realistic solution for most students over the past year.  We need to get our students back in school 5-days a week.  I predict this will happen in August.