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Long County BOE approves of Basketball Plan, Georgia Milestone Testing
Long Co BoE office.JPG

On November 9th, at 5:30 p.m. the Long County board of education approved of the Long County High School (LCHS) Basketball plan in regards to social distancing. The school board looked at COVID-19 plans of other surrounding schools before coming up with their own. They referenced the Georgia High School Association recommendations and spent time in the gym marking off spots to see what would work. The plan is to have two feet between each player while sitting. The players will have to take up the first couple of rows of bleachers on the home side. “They’ve been practicing together all week so they’re already around each other, so they should be fine with two feet,” said David Edwards, Long BOE Superintendent. The cheerleaders will abide by the same rules on the bleachers as well.

Also, the school board has limited fan capacity to 350 paid tickets, not counting teachers and Georgia High SchoolAssociation(GHSA) passes. When it comes

to the tickets the parents get first priority. “The players’ parents will have the opportunity to buy four season tickets/home tickets,” said Edwards. “Parents can pay all at once, or they can pay for four games (due 12/1) and then three games (due 1/19). Any ticket that is not sold to the parents will be on sale to the general public at the night of the game.”

If tickets sell out, the school board will notify the public by posting to the Long County High School Facebook page and announcing it at school.

The visiting team will be given 80 tickets. Giving only 80 tickets poses a challenge for upcoming games with Liberty and Wayne County high schools, but the school board is determined to keep the number of tickets to 80. The superintendent also assured the public that after the game, if they need to make changes then they will. Edwards said, “We want our players and community to be safe. Our families and community want to support their players”.

Another important topic discussed was to approve the plan for the Georgia Milestone (a state test

used to assess students mastery in core subjects) testing coming up in January. Beginning Jan. 11, in person students will start testing for three days. On Thursday and Friday of that week (the 14th and 15th), in person students will be sent home for distance learning while the virtual students get bused in to do testing those two days. Bringing in virtual students for testing is necessary because students will not be able to test at home. Transportation will be available for virtual students. Edwards also mentioned that the plan serves as a precursor to the end of the year test as well. “So if nothing changes then we’re talking about several grades, 3rd-8th grade, testing. So we’ll be looking at an even bigger issue come the end of the school year.” Ultimately the board approved to swap in person students and virtual students on the 14th and 15th of January 2021.

 

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