Having recently completed his 25th opening to a school year, Gwinnett County Public Schools Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks painted himself as an old pro at opening new school years, but he admitted that even with all of his experience, 2020’s opening was something new.

How the district pivoted to address the COVID-19 pandemic dominated much of Wilbanks’ State of the School System address to the Gwinnett Chamber at the 1818 Club on Wednesday. The superintendent told business leaders that the district has not been too different from businesses in how they’ve been forced to make operational changes to address the pandemic.