VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Virginia Beach City Public Schools voted Tuesday night to begin in-person learning for students in all grades who opted in to returning to the classroom.
"We know that students do better when they’re with us and we know that students are struggling in many ways to learn and their virtual environments," said Virginia Beach City Public Schools / Superintendent Aaron Spence.
In this latest phase, 7th graders will be in class Tuesday and Wednesday, while 8th grade will be in class Thursday and Friday.
High school students are returning on an alphabetical basis by last name.
A-K students are at school Tuesday and Wednesday, while L-Z students are at school Thursday and Friday
Remote learning will continue all other days.
Select grades returned to in-person learning in late September, with another wave returning to classrooms October 6.
The district says it has over 65,000 students and about 40% opted for virtual learning for the first semester.
Until physical distancing is no longer a requirement, Superintendent Spence says it will be difficult to significantly increase the number of students learning in-person next semester.
"Lets say 2/3 of the people that are currently virtual said 'I want to go face to face,' we could not promise that could happen. We do not have the space in our schools for that to happen," explained Spence.
Spence says the school board will discuss later this year what options, if any, will be available to virtual learners who want to return to class in January.
To help track the spread of COVID-19 among students, faculty and staff, VBCPS provides a regularly-updated report on the number of cases in schools.