On Friday, Chattooga County School Superintendent Jared Hosmer announced that the sixth graders at Summerville Middle School would start virtual learning on Tuesday of next week after the entire sixth grade staff at Summerville Middle School was forced to quarantine after being exposed to COVID-19.

Supt. Hosmer stressed that the virtual learning was only for the sixth grade students at Summerville Middle School.  It does not affect the seventh and eighth grade classes at Summerville Middle School and does not affect any of the other schools in the Chattooga County School System.

Hosmer told WZQZ news that the school system will continue to have in-class instruction system-wide, unless COVID-19 protocol deems a change to the school system’s schedule.  Hosmer indicated that it is difficult to know what things will be like in a week or two and that the school system is making decisions on a day-to-day basis.

The decision affecting the sixth grade students at Summerville Middle School is an example of how the school system is targeting specific incidents, while trying to maintain a sense of normality during the COVID-19 pandemic.