NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Newport News Public Schools held a virtual meeting Wednesday at 6 p.m. to discuss their plan for the return of in-person learning.
Families were invited to join the meeting via Zoom to hear from Superintendent Dr. George Parker III and a host of other NNPS leadership members to explore topics like instruction, class schedules, clubs and activities.
News 3 spoke with Superintendent Dr. Parker ahead of the meeting Wednesday.
School officials just announced that pre-K to 3rd grade and special needs students will return February 22, and students in grades 4-12 will return March 8.
Dr. Parker said kids can choose to continue will virtually learning if they would like, adding they obviously want to have a great launch when sending kids back to school.
"Our parents need to be prepared; our students need to be prepared, so this opportunity for communication allows us to be on the same page so that we can ensure that our students are safe or faculty members are safe and we could have a great productive moving forward for our school year," Dr. Parker said. "It’s always important that we provide our parents, our students opportunities. [We] will continue to listen to those concerns because no plan is perfect - we have to get on the road, on the right track and moving the right direction for this thing to work. Hearing from our families is very important to us."
Parents and students will had the opportunity to ask questions during the town hall and were invited to submit their questions ahead of time.
School officials said they will proceed with caution and plan to be flexible under the advisement of the health department.
