The Henry County Board of Education took action during a special called board meeting on Monday, May 3 to make updates to the district’s COVID-19 protocols on the heels of recent actions and recommendations made by state government and health officials.

Superintendent Mary Elizabeth Davis provided a list of updates to board members which included the following:

• Increased seating capacity of outdoor events from 33 percent to 50 percent.
• Increased seating capacity of indoor events from 25 percent to 33 percent.
• Opening of community use of the Performing Arts Center at Fairview, as well as the Performing Arts Center at McDonough once its renovation is complete.
• Opening of community use of facilities rentals for outdoors spaces at all school campuses.
• Opening of school-sponsored summer camps for on-campus operations.
• Masks will be optional for all outdoor spaces and activities, including graduation ceremonies for the Class of 2021.

“After navigating this worldwide pandemic since February and March of 2020, this is a tremendous step forward to getting our school district back toward some normalcy that we were accustomed to prior to having to change everything about how we provided a high-quality education to our students and families,” said Superintendent Davis.  “We don’t take these latest actions lightly, and they come after close review of our local health metrics and updated guidance from our trusted health partners and state government officials.”

School district officials will continue to monitor and review all health-related data and guidance from the CDC, District 4 Public Health, and our local hospital officials and medical professionals.  Their guidance helped the district to navigate the challenges of COVID-19 and keep all students and staff as safe as possible.

“We are so excited to be taking these steps for our district because it shows that the hard work and decisions of our district to ensure the health and safety of our school community have made a positive impact, and we can now move in this direction to ease some of the restrictions that were put in place,” said Board Chair Holly Cobb.  “We are looking forward to being able to provide more updates to our mitigation protocols in the near future.”

Any school community members with questions regarding the updated easements of limitations can contact their school or visit the district website for more information.

For more information on Henry County Schools, visit www.henry.k12.ga.us.