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Plans to create a fully online academy in the Johnson City Schools system were in place even before the COVID-19 outbreak forced students and teachers to remote classrooms.
And if thereâs a bright side to the pandemic, said Superintendent Steve Barnett, itâs that it did allow the system to refine and troubleshoot its approach to remote learning before officially launching its online school.
More than 600 students have expressed interest in the Johnson City Virtual Academy, which will start in August. School officials have currently limited the online school to grades 5-12.
Barnett doesnât, however, expect enrollment for the virtual academy will be that large in the first year. He anticipates 200-300 students will ultimately meet the systemâs expectations for success in a virtual format.
Johnson City Schools plans to officially transition to two middle schools serving grades 6-8 on Aug. 3, 2022, a change that school officials expect will help alleviate overcrowding.
âIt seems like quite a ways off, but itâll be here before we know it,â Todd Barnett, the systemâs middle grades supervisor, told members of the Johnson City Board of Education on Monday evening. âThereâs a lot of people doing a tremendous amount of work behind the scenes to make sure this happens successfully and we do things right by our students and by our community.â
Currently, students in the city system attend Indian Trail Intermediate School for grades 5 and 6 before moving to Liberty Bell Middle School for grades 7 and 8.
Since spring break, 49 students in the Johnson City Schools system have tested positive for COVID-19.
System officials have seen a recent uptick in cases over the past few weeks, which they attribute to a combination of factors.
Greg Wallace, the supervisor of safety at the school system, said school officials started noticing the increase the second week after spring break. He said the rise in cases has mirrored trends in the community. That s always been the case in the schools, Wallace said. As the community s numbers go up, certainly the school numbers go up.
Ballad Health recently reported that it had hit 100 hospitalizations of patients with the disease across its facilities for the first time in two months. The seven-day average of new cases of the virus in Northeast Tennessee also increased from 65.2 on March 8 to 108.8 on April 5. The number of new cases in the region reached their peak in December, hitting a seven-day average of above 600 for about a week.