Barnette updates board on plan to move to remote learning

Published 8:01 pm Tuesday, December 15, 2020

No new faces have joined the board after this year’s election, but the three re-elected members of the Cullman County School Board were all sworn in to their new terms during Tuesday night’s board meeting. 

Board members Heath Allbright, Wayne Myrex and Gene Sullins each took their oaths of office during the meeting to begin their next four-year terms on the board. All three ran unopposed during November’s general election. 

Cullman County Schools Superintendent Shane Barnette also provided an update on the system’s plan to move to remote learning after Christmas break is over. 

When school begins again on Jan. 6, all students will be learning remotely until Jan. 15 with staff still reporting to campuses during that time. Hybrid learning will resume on Jan. 19 and will continue until at least Jan. 29.

Barnette said the move to remote learning is meant to prevent a spike in cases after the holiday break, because there was a spike in cases after students and staff members were out for Thanksgiving break.

With the first two weeks of the semester already set for remote learning, that will allow schools to see any increases in cases that come from the holiday break and will make sure there are enough faculty and staff members available once it is time to return to the classroom, he said. 

“We’re doing this as a precaution for a potential spike after Christmas,” Barnette said. “By doing this, I feel good that we’ll know where we’re at before we come back to school.”

The board also heard from Alabama Education Association representative Lisa Faust, who asked members to consider a one-time pay increase to the system’s staff members in recognition of the extra work they are doing to fill new responsibilities during the pandemic.

The Cullman City School System passed a one-time payment of $500 to all full-time staff members during its meeting on Tuesday night, and Faust spoke to the county board to ask its members to consider a similar payment in a future meeting.

Even with many of the system’s educators having a double workload teaching in-person and virtually, they have still stepped up to perform additional duties such as cleaning their classrooms throughout the day and hosting breakfast and lunch in their classrooms, and those efforts are not limited to the teachers, she said. 

“Every person has worked extra hard to feed your students, clean the facilities, transport students, support schools and staff, keep facilities up and running and all of the countless other jobs that employees do,” she said. “It is time to show a small token of appreciation for these unsung heroes.”