It was no doubt a long meeting for the Cherokee County School Board on Thursday evening – one that required some extensive discussion and planning as they announced plans for students and teachers to return to the classroom on August 19.

Following a very lengthy meeting lasting well over two hours, the board voted on a five day a week in classroom school period with the option of virtual learning –

School Board President Brian Jennings –

As Mr. Jennings said, the board heard from Cherokee County EMA Director Shawn Rogers – Rogers shared statistics concerning recent COVID-19 cases in the county in addition to plans to work with school staff and administrators to help them formulate the best possible plan to safely reopen schools by making sure faculty and staff are properly trained and provided with the necessary personal protective equipment. He said that he was please with the school board’s decision –

Local Floyd Health Care Physician Doctor Ryan Rainer also shared his opinions on what he thought the best safe practices and procedures would be for reopening schools to in classroom learning. He echoed Rogers in saying that he felt the board made the best decision moving forward –

Superintendent Guice said the he is greatly appreciative to those that provided valuable opinions as the board made this difficult decision –

Superintendent-Elect Mike Welsh was also present at the meeting – we had an opportunity to ask Mr. Welsh how he felt about the school board’s decision – Mr. Welsh will officially take office in January and the outlook seems to indicate that the current pandemic will continue into his administration, he said that he supported the school board’s decision –

Superintendent of Education Mitchell Guice will be releasing an in depth statement regarding the board’s decision and we will publish that as soon as we receive it.