During a special-called meeting on July 28, the Rutherford County Board of Education voted to reopen schools in August with in-person classes and an option for all parents to choose distance-learning. 

The unanimous vote came Tuesday night after board member Tiffany Johnson's motion:

Following the Board’s decision, Director of Schools Bill Spurlock stated the district and schools will have procedures and protocols in place to minimize exposure of COVID-19 for students and employees. Those procedures will include a mask mandate for all employees, students and visitors to the school with limited exceptions; social-distancing whenever possible; and the limiting of student migration throughout the building. The district also has procedures in place for quarantining those who contract COVID-19 or who have been potentially exposed to the virus. 

These procedures and many others are available for parents and employees to review by reading the district’s comprehensive reopening plan on the RCS website.

The Board also approved a modified calendar for the school year, which calls for a registration day on Monday, Aug. 10 followed by half day, phase-in days on Tuesday, Aug. 11 through Friday, Aug. 14. 

The first full day of school will be Monday, Aug. 17. The full adopted calendar can be found in the district’s comprehensive reopening plan, which is available on the RCS website.

Those parents who would like to opt for the distance-learning option can do now through Aug. 5. The procedures and forms are also available on the districts website.

The school district will provide additional information to parents, employees and the community this week.