Fairfield schools return to full-time in-person classes

For the first time in the 2020-21 school year, students in the Fairfield Community School District are all back in class together.

Students returned to 100 percent in-person full-time classes on Monday.

'We're excited to see the students come back into the building,” Fairfield High School Principal Brian Stone said.

The district has been in a hybrid model, with students attending in-person classes 2½ days a week since school began.

In mid-November, the district went to all online classes because of rising COIVD numbers and stayed that way until mid-December.

Students went back to the hybrid model in December and continued with that when school resumed in early January after the winter break.

In a Jan. 6 message to parents posted on the district's website, Superintendent Laurie Noll explained that the district would remain in the hybrid model in January.

'In our Return to Learn Information and Matrix, it states that we need to be in the lower level for 10 consecutive days before moving to that level,” Noll wrote. 'If the numbers rise into the higher level, there may be a need to move into that higher level quickly based on staffing or safety needs.”

COVID numbers in the district - and in Jefferson County - were on a downward trend through January.

COVID positives reached a peak at 20 in the district around Jan. 7. Since then they have declined to the 'one-through-five” range and have remained there since the middle of the month.

'Our FCSD matrix shows that we have been in the ‘green' for several consecutive days and continue to see a drop in COVID-19 cases in the district and county,” Noll posted on the district site on Jan. 26, announcing that students would return to school on Feb. 1.

Students will attend four days a week: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, with Wednesday being a virtual content day for students.

Students who have been doing 100 percent online learning have the option to continue with that.

Stone said the first day having everyone back went smoothly.

'The school day has gone very well,” Stone said. 'What's most impressive is all the work that people did to make sure the proper mitigation is in place.

'Everyone is following the guidelines.”