The sudden shift in the 2019-2020 school year due to COVID-19 has resulted in some changes with regard to grading and retention, with drastic changes to students’ learning environments caused by the closing of schools last month having minimal effect, according to a report presented to the Henry County Board of Education at its April 20 study session.

  In the class of 2020, each school’s valedictorian and salutatorian along with overall class rankings will be determined using the cumulative weighted numeric average (CWNA) earned at the end of the first semester in December, superintendent Dr. Mary Elizabeth Davis stated during her briefing.

As for students in lower grades moving on to the next grade this fall, those decision will also be mostly unaffected by the events of the past month, in which all students in the district were forced to convert to a virtual learning platform. Only a student who has been on a school’s academic concern list during the third quarter of the school year or earlier can be considered for retention, Davis said. Because of that, no new student can be added as a retention candidate. Also, absence from school or inability to participate in remote learning experience will not impact retention.

  Students who are recommended for retention will be offered a face-to-face summer learning program for three weeks this July. Students who attend will be re-evaluated at the end of that program to determine if they meet the criteria to move on to the next grade level. Additional support will be provided at the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year.

    Other highlights from Davis’ report to the board included results from the district’s recent virtual recruitment efforts. After a large in-person job fair had to be scrapped due to the coronavirus response, officials in the human resources department staged a virtual job fair from which 475 applications for certified positions had been received as of April 15. During the past few weeks of schools closures, principals and other supervisors have made 158 certified new hire recommendations for the upcoming school year, Davis said. That leaves 78 certified vacancies which the staff continues to work daily to fill. There were 140 such vacancies at this time last year.

  Henry County’s virtual job fair was featured in an article printed by Industry Dive, a national online publication that reports on various industries.

  Meanwhile, the district continues to provide meals for students in need just as it does during regular school operations, albeit on a slightly smaller scale but still in large numbers. Operation Lunchbox partnered with several local businesses to feed students during spring break, with a major boost coming from a donation by the Chris Tucker Foundation. More than 400 community volunteers pitched in to help provide breakfast and lunch each day as six designated feeding sites.

  By the end of that week, 10,601 meals had been served to Henry County students, Davis reported. That included 2,589 at McDonough Middle; 2,550 at Stockbridge Elementary; 2,437 at Wesley Lakes Elementary; 1,500 at Hampton Elementary; 1,025 at Locust Grove Elementary; and 500 at Oakland Elementary.

  Davis informed the board of two emergency expenditures incurred since the April 2 passage of the district’s emergency resolution and declaration: $84,315 for Chromebook refurbishing, and $11,123.75 for printing of K-2 resources. The resolution stipulates that any such expenditures made will be presented to the board during the next public meeting.