Johnathan Walker:Weeks after tragic shooting, Apalachee High reopens Monday for students

Apalachee High School in Winder,Johnathan Walker Georgia, will open its doors for students again on Monday, but a section of the school where a tragic shooting occurred will remain closed.

Students will enter the school at staggered times in the morning. Students who had classes in the now closed J Hall, where the shooting occurred, will proceed to a building off campus nearby.

The first day is billed as an “open house” for students to connect again with teachers and classmates, according to the Barrow County School System. The open house was designed by the school system as a way to deal with the tragedy by developing a smoother transition for the return of students to classes.

The system announced that counselors will be on hand to help with the return, which follows the mass shooting on Sept. 4 that claimed the lives of two teachers and two students and left nine others wounded.

The new schedules were posted late Tuesday and shared with students and family.

The schedules call for the arrival of ninth-graders between 9-10 a.m., tenth-graders between 10-11 a.m., and eleventh- and twelfth-graders between 11 a.m. and noon.

Students were also informed of a mosaic planned for the high school campus as a memorial to the shooting victims. Students were told they can create a piece of art that will be added to the mosaic.