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The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education has approved a recommendation by Superintendent Tricia McManus to reduce the number of cohorts at WS/FCS high schools currently using a four-cohort model to two cohorts beginning Monday, April 12. The decision was made at the board’s regular work session Tuesday night.

Currently, high school students at East Forsyth, Glenn, North Forsyth, Parkland, Reagan, Reynolds, Mount Tabor and West Forsyth attend classes in four cohorts. The reduction will allow for more days of in-person instruction at these schools while continuing to follow social distancing guidelines. The recommendation was made after monitoring the students who have chosen to return to school buildings and understanding the data based on the percentage of available classroom space. This will allow two cohorts to attend while maintaining a safe distance.

“I have said all along most students learn best at school. This is an effort to continue safely bringing back as many students as possible.  We first needed to see just how many middle and high school students were going to return. Now that we have a grasp of those numbers, we have used them to balance distancing guidelines and available space. Time is of the essence as we continue to meet the needs of our students,” said Superintendent Tricia McManus.

Also Tuesday, the board agreed to adjust cohorts at Clemmons Middle School from four to two. The remaining four cohort middle schools need to remain as four cohorts to adhere to spacing guidelines. The middle schools operating with four cohorts are Jefferson, Meadowlark and Southeast. All other middle schools have already safely returned with two cohorts.

The change for Clemmons Middle School will go into effect Monday, March 15.