HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. — As the school year starts to wrap up, districts across Central Georgia are making some tough decisions.
School systems like Monroe County say 30 days of alternative learning have been tough on the teachers, parents, and students, so they are ending the year early.
Superintendent Mike Hickman said they will end May 1st, instead of May 20th.
He said this will give teachers time to collect work that was not done online and finishing grading.
Students can also turn in make-up work until the 20th. He said he knows it's been hard for some of them to turn assignments in because about 20% of their students don't have access to internet.
"We just felt that we would use those final three weeks to get everything, get all the work in, the grades finalized, and get everything turned back in," said Hickman.
He said they made the announcement on Wednesday and want staff members, parents, and students to know how proud they are of their work.
"We miss our children. We wish we could be with them, but we're doing our best to provide instruction even when we're not with them."
Meanwhile, Houston County said they will continue their school year as planned, through May 22nd.
Darla Holler said doing online learning with three children in Pre-K, kindergarten, and third grade can be overwhelming.
"As a parent, I wouldn't complain if we ended May 1st, but I think it's good that they're keeping it going and kind of offering up some sort of normalcy for the kids."
She said in the long run, she thinks keeping the normal schedule will be good for the kids.
"I think it's good from the perspective of the kids and the learning all the information that they're gonna need to begin next year, having missed all of this in school education," said Holler.
Beth McLaughlin, spokesperson for Houston County Schools, said if they make any changes to the calendar, they will let parents and students know.
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