YORKTOWN, Va. -- Parents at four local schools, who will attend classes only three days a week, learned more about a plan that has thousands of families rearranging their lives on just a few day notice on Saturday.
Parents attended two forums where they obtained these updates at Yorktown High School and Tabb High School. This comes after a fire at Grafton Middle and High School that destroyed electrical equipment on Monday.
Among the parents included Elizabeth Garase and Jenny Miller whose children go to Grafton. They said they were satisfied by what school officials said.
"I feel like they do have a lot good information to provide us for the reasoning behind this every-other-day schedule," Garase said, referring to the alternate-day schedule.
"I am satisfied to the point that they answered almost all of the questions anyone would be asking," Miller said.
Grafton Middle and High School are closed for months, as crews repair the damage. School officials had to scramble to make sure students complete this school year.
"We need to be compassionate and empathetic, but we cannot make decisions based off of emotions," Victor Shandor, the York County School Division Superintendant, told parents. "We have to be analytical and trust that our processes work."
In the meantime, Grafton Middle and High School students will attend either York High School or Tabb Middle School three days a week. That means students already attending those schools, will also only have classes three days a week.
"They said that everything would still be the same as far as education," Garase said. "I guess I'm nervous as to whether that's true but I guess we'll see. Time will tell."
Transportation services are being planned, especially for walkers.
The new schedule concerned Miller, who needs to find someone to watch her son.
"My concern is the alternating days that he will be home that he will have support during those days because I'm a working mom and I won't be home those days," Miller said.
Miller looked at the silver-lining of the situation, referring to how the fire happened after the school day. She said, "I think this is the biggest plus we need to look at is that this could have been a big disaster."
The Division said parents should have received a call from the transportation department about school bus service. Those new school schedules start on Monday.
