BCSS Families, 

I am writing to inform you that we have made the decision to transition all students at Henderson Middle School to virtual learning for the next five school days effective at the end of classes today- August 20, 2021. Monday, August 23 through Friday, August 27 will be virtual learning days for all HMS students. We will plan to resume in-person learning on Monday, August 30. This decision only impacts Henderson Middle School. All other schools in the Butts County School System will continue to operate as currently scheduled. 

As of today, 8 staff members are currently under quarantine at Henderson Middle School. As a result, it has become increasingly difficult to maintain adequate staffing on campus. Additionally, we currently have 38 students in quarantine due to a positive test result along with 63 students who are in quarantine due to a direct exposure either on campus or away from school. A temporary transition to all virtual learning will allow our students and staff to recover and also limit the potential for continued transmission. Additionally, we will use this time to thoroughly disinfect all of our facilities at HMS. HMS staff members, who are able, will continue to report to campus and provide daily instruction through Google Classroom. Dr. Watkins and the HMS team will send out additional details soon regarding the instructional schedule. We will also provide instructions to students throughout the day today, so that they are prepared to attend class virtually beginning Monday. Decisions regarding extracurricular activities at HMS next week will be determined in the coming days. 

Our dedicated teachers and staff have been working incredibly hard to ensure we can continue to keep our schools operating. Our school nurses and health care workers have worked diligently to contact-trace and identify quarantine needs, while still providing daily healthcare services to our students. As we have communicated throughout this process, it will be necessary for us to remain responsive to changing circumstances as we operate during this pandemic. Along those lines, we will need to adjust our quarantine protocols based on current circumstances. This information has been conveyed in a separate communication and will be posted on our website. We will continue to ensure transparency in reporting current Covid-19 data on our website and by providing relevant notifications to our families. 

It is imperative that we continue to work together to ensure we can preserve the opportunity to provide in-person learning. We ask all students, staff, and families to continue practicing healthy habits to help us minimize the transmission of COVID19. We will continue to encourage and strongly recommend the use of a face-covering while on the school bus and while indoors. In addition, we ask that students remain at home if they are sick. It is our sincere belief and hope that following this guidance will help us keep our schools open for in-person learning 

Dr. Todd Simpson
Superintendent