For some Alabama schools, it’s home before and after the holidays as COVID cases surge Updated Dec 11, 2020; Posted Dec 10, 2020 Alabama State Superintendent Eric Mackey speaks to superintendents at meeting on Aug. 28, 2019, in Montgomery, Ala. Mackey has deferred to local school systems when it comes to making decisions on whether to host in-person school or remote education during the coronavirus pandemic. Facebook Share But for Jefferson County, the schedule remains the same. Other districts, such as Hoover and Tuscaloosa city schools, will return with staggered scheduling in which some students return to in-class instruction before others. Other school districts, such as Calhoun County Schools, will be going to a virtual-only schedule next week. And in Scottsboro -- where a New York Times piece recently listed the Jackson County community as among the highest for week-to-week growth in coronavirus infections -- the city school system is transitioning to virtual-only education starting Thursday at some schools and extending to others next week.