School started, sort of, on Tuesday

High School Principal Barry Hollandsworth and his assistants greet the arrivals on the first day of school in 2019.
As these photos show, school opening day was a lot different just a year ago without a pandemic.
First day of school at Floyd Elementary in 2019.

School sort of started Tuesday in Floyd County with some students on site and others online. With staggered schedules, social distancing on buses and in classrooms, students and teachers alike had to adjust to a new world defined by the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic.

Kindergarten students attend in person fours of the five weekdays with Wednesdays closed.

Grades 4-7 attend two days a week at 50 percent capacity (Mondays and Tuesdays for half and Thursdays and Fridays for the others with online learning on remaining days.

Grades 8-12 attend one day a week at 25 percent on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursday and Fridays with online learning each day for those not in classrooms.

Social distancing limits students to just 10 on each bus.

Students are health screened each day they attend class at the schools. Same for staff.

School attendance is limited to classes. All fall sports are postponed until March 1, 2021, and winter sports like basketball are scheduled to start on Dec. 28, depending on the infections and other situations of the pandemic.

Normally, we would be gearing up for football, volleyball, cross-country, golf and other high school sports, but they are suspended for the time being and cancellations of college football seasons continue to increase.

Like the cancelled summer music events, my cameras have spent more time on the shelf in my studio than out on assignments.

I’ll dig up some sports photos from last fall for publish over the weekend to remind of what it was and, hopefully, will be again sometime soon.

Arriving at Floyd County High School on opening day in 2019.
Some were smiling on the first day (last year).

(Updated to correct an error in Dr. John Wheeler’s name.)

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© 2021 Blue Ridge Muse