Will city public school students return to in-person learning in January?

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The Charlottesville City School Board likely will make a big decision at Wednesday’s work session.

Superintendent Rosa Atkins is slated to make a presentation to the board titled “Return to Face to Face Learning – COVID-19,” according to the 4 p.m. meeting’s agenda.

The School Board is expected to take a vote on whether it would allow children to receive in-person instruction starting in January. The plan is to start with the younger children and then proceed with the older children.

Key search Charlottesville City Schools on Facebook to watch the meeting live.

See the latest COVID-19 numbers here.

The School Board in previous meetings has discussed plans to take a vote on Dec. 16 in hopes that it would have enough information to evaluate current COVID-19 cases in the area and make the decision to bring children back to the buildings.

CCS currently is serving 34 special needs children in its buildings and has not reported any in-school COVID-19 transmissions, said Beth Cheuk, spokeswoman for the city schools, last week.

Albemarle County Public Schools, which also have not reported any in-school transmissions, on Dec. 8 announced that instruction this week would be virtual only, citing the rise of COVID-19 cases for the reversal. The change is set to be in effect until Jan. 11.

Prior to terminating in-person instruction, ACPS was in stage three of its reopening, allowing children up to third grade to attend classes in school buildings.

The county schools plan to hold a special at 3 p.m. Thursday. Watch it here.