Oconee Schools Have Some Late Shift To Distance Learning Option

The number of students selecting the distance learning/digital option rather than in-person instruction increased by 165 in last two weeks before school started on Wednesday, Meri Blackburn told the members of Oconee County School Board earlier this week.

Blackburn said that the final figures were 1,111 students (13.4 percent) deciding not to attend in-person classes while 7,167 chose the in-person option.

Blackburn, director of Secondary Education for Oconee County Schools, was giving the student services report to the Board at its work session on Monday.

The number of students deciding not to attend classes in-person was an increase of 165 over the figures that Claire Buck, chief academic officer for the Oconee County Schools, had given the Board at its Aug. 20 meeting, Blackburn said.

The entire work session of the Board on Monday was devoted to a discussion of procedures in place for the launch of the school year Wednesday.

“We are excited to welcome those students back,” Branch said in an upbeat report on the beginning of the school year at the start of the session.

“We had a very successful first day in Oconee County Schools,” Anisa Sullivan Jimenez, director of Communications for Oconee County Schools, said in an email message at the end of the school day on Wednesday.

For more on the story, with a video of the Board of Education meeting on Monday, please go to Oconee County Observations.