Editor's Note: Updated May 6, 2021
The deadline (May 5) to register for Bulloch County's 2021-2022 Virtual Learning Program has now passed. Families may still Register for Virtual Learning for 2021-2022; however, placement is not guaranteed. Students will be placed on a waiting list for available spaces by grade level.
All families who are interested in their child being in Bulloch County School's Virtual Learning Program for the new school year must apply, even if their child was a virtual learner for the 2020-2021 school year. Families must submit an application online for each child they wish to enroll in the Virtual Program. Students are not automatically re-enrolled in virtual learning.
To have been included in the lottery drawing for available slots, online applications had to be received by 11:59 p.m., on Wednesday, May 5. A process is in place to consider prioritizing applications for hardship situations and for children of our virtual learning program employees.
Who is eligible to apply?
The Virtual Learning Program will be for students in grades Kindergarten through Twelfth-grade. The Pre-Kindergarten program is administered by the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning. Bulloch County Schools does not intend to provide a virtual option for Pre-Kindergarten for the 2021-2022 school year.
Required Pre-Application Overview Session
To be eligible to apply, parents must have attended one of four available pre-application overview sessions that were held in early April. If you were unable to attend one of the pre-application overview sessions, you may watch a recorded version of the Pre-Application Overview Session and verify that you have done so. Simply select the "I will watch the recorded orientation session," option when you access this link to begin.
After completing this process, you will receive a unique code to complete the registration process. This is to ensure that all interested parents receive important orientation information and are fully aware of the structure and requirements of the program before submitting an application. Students are not required to attend tor watch the overview session.
Access to Watch the Overview Session Again
If you have already completed an orientation and received a unique code, but wish to access the presentation to review, you may view it here for direct access to a recording of the presentation."
Parents who submitted an interest survey earlier this year must still apply for the Virtual Program. High school students intending to be fully enrolled in dual enrollment classes (no classes taken at high school) should not submit a virtual program application.
Lottery Drawing for the Virtual Learning Program
In the event that more applications are received than spaces available in the program, lottery drawings will be conducted via a live stream event on Friday, May 7. Those not selected for the Virtual Learning Program will be placed on the waiting list in the order drawn.
Virtual Program Open House and Orientation
All students who are selected for placement in the 2021-2022 Bulloch County Schools Virtual Program and their parents will also be required to participate in a 2021-2022 Virtual Program Open House and Orientation. Dates and location for the open house and orientation will be announced this summer.
During this orientation, the parents and students will meet their teachers, participate in break-out sessions where they will receive grade level-specific expectations, receive instruction on the digital platforms used, and get help setting up Campus Student and Campus Parent accounts. In addition, technology staff will be available to check out technology devices (Chromebooks) to families.
Is Virtual Learning the best option?
The Virtual Program is not an appropriate instructional model for all students. Parents should carefully read the school district’s Virtual Learning Program Handbook for Parents and Students and consider whether the Virtual Program is an appropriate environment for their child. If your student was not successful in the virtual program in 2020-2021, the district strongly discourages you from applying for the 2021-2022 virtual program.
Placement will be for the full school year
Parents of students enrolling in the Virtual Program will be required to commit to their choice for the full academic year, which for 2021-2022, is Monday, August 2 through Wednesday, May 25. This is critical to avoid staffing moves throughout the school year, which cause disruptions for both traditional (face-to-face) and virtual learners.
This website provides data for Bulloch County Schools' confirmed positive COVID-19 cases, clusters, and direct exposures that result in quarantine as reported by the school district's medical personnel and administrators using robust and secure protocol developed in partnership with the Department of Public Health. This website is updated in real time as cases are reported. While our school district medical personnel collect, monitor, and report other health data to the Department of Public Health, this online report will focus on confirmed cases, clusters, and quarantines/exposures.
- Case: A reported case is an employee or student in either the school district's virtual or on-campus learning programs, who has received a confirmed positive diagnosis of COVID-19. A reported case does not mean that the individual was physically in or on school property (building, athletic facilities or bus) on the day the case was reported.
- Quarantines/Exposures: A healthy student or employee who has direct exposure to a confirmed positive case of COVID-19 on or in school district property (building, athletic facilities or bus) or they are the family member of a student or employee who has a confirmed positive case. Direct exposure means that the person was in contact with a confirmed positive case of COVID-19 within less than six feet for 15 minutes or more. A direct exposure does not mean that the person will become ill. The person is quarantined and monitored for 7, 10, or 14 days to see if symptoms arise. (revised CDC quarantine guidelines updated 12/4/2020)
- COVID-19 Clusters: A cluster exists and is reported to the Department of Public Health if there are two or more people who were on or in school district property who developed COVID-19 symptoms or had a confirmed positive test within 14 days of each other, and who had been in direct close contact with each other. This is reported in order to monitor a potential outbreak or spread in a specific area.
- Isolations: Isolation separates people who are sick for any reason from people who are not. COVID-19 has a wide range of symptoms, some of which mirror other common illnesses. Based on our protocols developed with the Department of Public Health, some students and employees may stay home or be sent home to isolate for up to 10 days if they are sick. An isolated person can return to school if they receive an alternate, non-COVID diagnosis from a healthcare provider and have a negative COVID-19 test. An isolated person must also be symptom-free and fever free for 24 hours without the aid of fever-reducing drugs to return to work or school.
Isolation numbers are not included in this online data because their COVID-19 status is unknown, and they may receive an alternate diagnosis from a medical provider. If an isolated person receives a confirmed positive COVID-19 diagnosis, then this online report will reflect that data.
- Students and Employees*: The data reflects students and employees in both the school district's virtual learning and traditional on-campus learning programs because even those in the virtual program may be in or on school property. College interns, student teachers, Statesboro-Bulloch County Parks & Recreation Department Afterschool personnel, and contracted services personnel who serve on our campuses are included in the data of this report as well.
- All schools practice deep cleaning measures throughout the day, and areas where a COVID-19 person has been will receive immediate deep cleaning.
- Only students whose parents were contacted are quarantined. Other students may remain and return to school.
How is COVID-19 related absence information monitored?
- School nurses will collect information on students and employees that are out for isolation or quarantine due to reasons related to COVID-19 so that the school district can adequately monitor their absence and their return to school or work.
- The school district will actively communicate with the Department of Public Health when school or district personnel become aware of a confirmed case of COVID-19 that affects an employee or student who has been in or on school district property. School nurses have the necessary contact information to do this.
- The Department of Public Health will handle contact tracing for contacts outside the school environment related to a confirmed case.
How will parents whose child has been exposed to a COVID-19 positive person be notified and what are their next steps?
- School nurses will monitor employees' and students' isolation and quarantine/exposure periods
- During the quarantine/exposure 14-day period, school nurses and Department of Public Health will monitor persons for any COVID-19 symptoms. Person will also receive daily follow up communication the Department of Public Health. .
- At no time will any individual health information about other students or employees be shared with anyone. The privacy of individual student health information is protected by the Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act, and individual school district employee health information is protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
How will the public be informed of confirmed COVID-19 positive cases?
- The school district’s Public Relations Department will maintain an area on the district website that provides up-to-date information about confirmed positive COVID-19 cases and any resulting quarantines/exposures.
- This information will be site specific, but will not include any specific information related to the individual(s) involved.
How will students who are absent due to a positive COVID-19 diagnosis or voluntary quarantine receive instruction or make up work?
- As a student is well and able, the school district’s distance learning option is activated for them, and the student will receive instruction and assignments at home from their Bulloch County Schools teachers via Google Classroom and Google Meet.
- Once a child can return after a quarantine period, face-to-face learning can resume.
How should families conduct daily self-checks to help stop the spread of COVID-19?
Before you go to work or school, follow these steps that were sent home with students and made available on our website
Visit our Virtual Learning Program Website for orientation information, virtual teacher websites, technology help, and resources.
Bulloch County Schools' School Nutrition Department will provide meal service to all families whose children are the following:
- Enrolled in the school district's virtual learning program for grades Pre-K - 12.
- Enrolled in the school district's traditional learning program, but are temporarily at home due to a 10-day isolation or 14-or-more-day quarantine due to COVID-19 symptoms or direct exposure to a confirmed positive case.
How to Order?
Parents/Guardians must complete this online meal service pre-order form by each Thursday to be able to pick up meals on the following Monday. The online form is available on each district and school website and social media. It was also emailed to all virtual program and distance learning parents and students. Keep the link to use each week.
What Does a Meal Box Cost?
- Breakfast is free for all students.
- Lunches:
- Temporarily there is no cost due to a USDA waiver that may end December 18, 2020 or earlier. When the waiver ends, these are the costs:
- $11.25 per week for Pre-K -5th grade students who qualify for full-priced meals
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$12.50 per week for 6th - 12th grade students who qualify for full-priced meals.
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$2.00 per week for Pre-K - 12th grade students who qualify for reduced-priced meals.
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Free, no cost for Pre-K - 12th grade students who qualify for free meals.
- Temporarily there is no cost due to a USDA waiver that may end December 18, 2020 or earlier. When the waiver ends, these are the costs:
How Do You Pay for Meals?
Temporarily there is no cost due to a USDA waiver that extends through the end of the school year. After that time, the school district uses MySchoolBucks to provide parents/guardians a convenient online website and mobile application from which to manage a meal payment account and make payments online. You can also make a payment by cash or check at curbside when you pick up your meals.
What Do You Receive?
This service provides a one-week supply of five breakfasts and five lunches for each child in grades Pre-Kindergarten - 12th. The first two week's menus are attached below. Thereafter, the meal menus will be the same as those served in the traditional program, and the menus are posted on the school district's website and printed in the local newspaper.
Who Can Pick Up? Meals may be picked up by a parent, guardian, caregiver, or the student if he or she is old enough to drive.
What Time to Pick Up? There are two available time frames to choose from for meal pickup: 9 a.m. - 10 a.m. or 4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Where Do I Pick Up Meals?
- Meal boxes are for curbside pick up only on Mondays when school is in session or an alternate day when holidays occur.
- The pick up locations are outside each of the school district's nine elementary schools.
- Families with children in middle and high school, will go to their home's zoned elementary school to pick up meals.
- School Nutrition staff will set up outside the elementary schools during the two time frames.
- They will place a box of food for each child inside the family's or student's vehicle.
- Participants are asked to remain in their vehicle.
What if I miss my pick up time?
Due to the perishable nature of the food and our school nutrition personnel's schedules for on-campus meals, the school district is unable to accommodate any alternate pick up times for those who do not come to pick up their pre-orders. Please ensure that you are able to pick up your order at either of the assigned times prior to placing an order.
How does my child qualify for free or reduced-priced meals?
- If your child was a student in our school district last year, and he or she qualified for either free or reduced-priced meals last year, your family's application is still valid for your child to continue to receive free or reduced-priced meals through September 29, 2020.
- To either apply to qualify for free/reduced-priced meals as a new student or to renew your previous year's application, a parent or guardian must complete a 2020-2021 Free & Reduced-Price Meal Application.
- Our school district will provide a printed application to all students or you can complete the application online via this link.
- A completed form must be received and processed prior to September 29, for returning students to continue to receive this benefit.
