YORK COUNTY, Va. (WAVY) — Two public forums were planned Saturday to address and answer any questions from families and staff on the future of Grafton Middle and Grafton High.

As you can imagine it is no easy task merging four schools together in such a quick manner but the school leaders today wanted to use the forum to be transparent in their decision making which isn’t easy.

One of the questions asked was if teachers will still get their pay? The response was yes.

Another question was, will students be able to volunteer or help out in the school on their days off? That response was they don’t know yet.

Some parents found it very useful, others say there is still work to be done.

County and school leaders wanted to create a safe place for understanding and questions as they all migrate to a temporary new normal.

“I think the biggest thing is with the kids being off of school trying to figure out how they’re going to deal with making school work up and kind of dealing with the balance of after school activities and what’s Tuesday going to be like for their first day,” said Michael Ehrlich who has students who go to Grafton.

He said issues of transportation and locking down a schedule made sense, but he still had some reservations.

“I think they kind of provided some guidance in what the framework was for making their decision so it was kind of helpful to see that process. I’m still not 100 percent sure I guess how it’s going to qualify for state requirements or hours attended days to attend and kind of what’s going to happen when it gets to the endpoint of the school being ready to go in May,” said Michael.

School leaders say they’ve mapped and listed out how it works and students should still receive their appropriate education.

Stacey Fraytes a parent of a Tabb Middle School student believes only time will tell what works and what doesn’t.

“I’m gonna just see how smoothly it’s going to go, but I think it was pretty helpful,” she said.

She said she’s not 100 percent sold but is happy to see leaders working hard help everyone understand and make it work the best they can.

“They did communicate that they’re going to be calling constantly, sending us calls every other week and constantly informing us of different changes,” she said.

Because restoration of power at the complex is expected to take months following a fire this week, students will go to York High and Tabb Middle for classes.

According to a division news release, Grafton High School will alternate school days with York High School students at the YHS campus, while Grafton Middle School will alternate school days with Tabb Middle School students at the TMS campus.

• All Grafton Complex students will attend school on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and 10 Saturdays.
• York High and Tabb Middle students will attend school Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

York County school officials say this alternating schedule will remain in place through Friday, May 22.