By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–A full week of Distance Learning will have had its desired effect at Union City High School come next week.
Students at UCHS will return to the Level 2.51 Plan on Monday — meaning they will attend in-person classes through Thursday each week. Fridays will be reserved for Distance Learning and appointment-scheduled tutoring.
That schedule had been in effect since Sept. 9 until last week when Director of Schools Wes Kennedy elected to temporarily switch high school students to full-time Distance Learning due to a rise in COVID-19 cases in Obion County and the number of teachers and students quarantined because of distance contact.
Both those issues have significantly improved in the past few days, prompting Kennedy’s decision.
“It was the right decision last week when we went to all Distance Learning for high school students and I truly believe it’s the right decision now to return to in-person classes,” the head of UC Schools said. “That the number of COVID-19 cases we have locally has dropped considerably is a good sign for everyone in our community.
“And we’re expecting a number of both our students and teachers who were quarantined to return to school in the coming days.”
Kennedy said he continues to believe it’s best for all students to receive education via in-person classroom settings, but he would reserve the right to make future changes in the UC School System schedule should the numbers dictate such action.
Students at both UC Elementary and Union City Middle School will continue to attend on-campus classes five days a week.
The serving of free breakfast and lunch will still be provided to all UC Schools students until the end of the first semester, according to Director of Food Services Nan Tilghman.
Tilghman also said meals for the weekends — free of charge — will be sent home for every student on the last day students are in class for the week, as was the practice before this past week of Distance Learning at UCHS.