Rutherford County Delays School Reopening As A Late Wave Of Students Opt For Distance Learning

Rutherford County is pushing back the start of school for a few days after roughly 40% of students opted to attend virtually.

A district spokesperson says school leaders did not anticipate that more than 19,000 would choose distance learning by this week’s deadline. Just two weeks ago, fewer than 5,000 had signed up.

“We need to give our teachers and schools additional prep time to adjust and be ready to serve students,” James Evans says in a statement.

In late July, RCS said it had 26,000 mobile devices available for students, with more expected later.

Rutherford County had delayed its decision on whether to resume in-person classes. It’s the largest school district in Middle Tennessee to be restarting classroom instruction this fall and will mandate that students and teachers wear masks.

Currently, the spread of the coronavirus is considered “high” by the district’s own tracking, but that is not cited as reason for the delay.

Half-days were supposed to start Monday. Now they’ll begin Thursday.