RALEIGH — Elementary schools will soon be allowed to return to daily, in-person classes, Gov. Roy Cooper last week.
Mount Airy City School officials say that full in-class learning won’t happen until it is clear that students and staff can remain healthy.
The decision on whether to return to full in-person instruction across the state starting on Oct. 5 will be left up to individual districts. Those choosing to go forward with the Plan A reopening won’t be limited in the number of students who can be inside a classroom. They would, however, be required to screen kids for coronavirus symptoms, make sure they wear face coverings, and offer remote options for parents concerned about their kids bringing the virus back home.
The governor and Dr. Mandy Cohen, the state’s top public health official, did not outline a timeline for when they’d consider letting middle schools and high schools transition to 100% physical instruction. When classes began last month, most K-12 public school students were on Plan C, which provided fully remote learning, while others adopted the Plan B model providing for a mix of online and in-person instruction.
Cooper said the state’s improved coronavirus numbers and the lower likelihood of infection and transmission among younger people fueled his decision to let elementary schools reopen to more students.
“Districts will have the ability to select a plan based on their unique situation,” Cooper said. “We’re able to open this option because most North Carolinians have doubled down on our safety and prevention measures and stabilized our numbers. The science of lower viral spread among children also backs up this decision.”
“Younger children are less likely to become infected, have symptoms, experience severe disease and spread the virus to others,” Cohen said. “The science also shows that in-person learning is so important for the development of all children, especially for younger children.”
North Carolina has reported only four fatalities among those younger than 25, out of a total of 3,180 COVID-related deaths the state has seen since the start of the pandemic. The public health department’s coronavirus dashboard shows zero deaths, eight clusters and 47 coronavirus cases linked to school settings.
City schools
It’s been five weeks since Mount Airy City Schools welcomed students and staff back on its campuses on Aug. 17.
The state required all public school districts to turn in a plan for three styles of teaching: 100% in-class learning (Plan A), a blend of in-class and online instruction (Plan B) and 100% distance learning (Plan C).
Surry County Schools opened with Plan C and moved to Plan B on Monday. From the beginning Mount Airy offered parents an option of Plan C or Plan B.
For students in Mount Airy, the planning for ‘Back to School 2020’ began in April,” stated Carrie Venable, Mount Airy City Schools executive officer of communications. “Stakeholder input was critical in making decisions as staff, parents, students, school leaders and the community shared their needs and wants.”
Staff and leaders have worked to not only accommodate families to what may work best for their kids, but to do so in a way that puts the health and wellness of everyone as the top priority, Venable said. The city Board of Education supported every step taken to safely bring staff and students back to school.
“Mount Airy City Schools has been the only district across the state to bring students back in Plan B for five days of instruction,” Venable said. No public district started back with full in-class instruction.
”Several districts brought back their schools in Plan B with in-school attendance varying from two days a week to one district attending four days a week. Over 55 districts across North Carolina started in Plan C,” she said.
Making the city’s plan happen took working closely with local health department officials and maintaining strict adherence to the recommendations and requirements from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
”The staff employed in Mount Airy City Schools has taken time to reflect, problem-solve and make adjustments all along the way to improve each day,” said the school official. “Both students and staff have adjusted to teaching and learning with masks, staying 6 feet apart, washing hands and keeping spaces sanitized.”
Venable said that while the district has experienced some success with its approach, it hasn’t gone down without challenges.
There are dozens of grade schools using Plan C with fully remote learning. Now the governor is saying elementary schools can reopen for regular classes in October.
”Moutn Airy City Schools believes that encouraging districts to skip Plan B to reach Plan A quickly would lead to major school closure,” Venable said. “Careful and thoughtful plans, based on the metrics in each community, can lead to prolonged school for every child in the state this year.”
Having the option to move to full classroom instruction will allow for more flexibility, she said.
“Mount Airy City Schools will move to Plan A when it is clear that students and staff are able to remain healthy and well. This will be more clear as our local health department and NCDHHS provide guidance.”
School funding
One problem for school systems is that returning to school campuses will create new expenses.
“A typical school district will average well over a million dollars to be able to meet the PPE (personal protective equipment) and health requirements needed to keep our students safe,” Dr. Kim Morrison, city schools superintendent, told the Surry County Board of Commissioners in June during a budget meeting.
In trying to order some basic supplies such as face masks and hand sanitizer, an order she put in that month topped $20,000, she noted.
Because the state doesn’t want the virus to spread rapidly through schools, one requirement if campuses reopen is checking children for a fever as they enter the building or board a school bus. Morrison told the commissioners the district needed 36 laser thermometers to do the job, but the state was only going to reimburse for 16 of them, which means the other 20 weren’t covered.
This speech came as the county board was looking to cut funding to schools as part of a overall budget reduction due to an expected drop in sales tax income.
After Morrison and the other two superintendents in the county spoke, the commissioners voted to reduce the per-pupil funding amount by $20 this year — from $1,210 to $1,190, a drop of 1.65% or $210,000 for all the children in the three school systems.
“Mount Airy City Schools … hopes the state will remember to fund the district appropriately to be able to continue to be open all year,” said Venable. “The extra transportation costs, personnel costs and sanitization costs will be needed to sustain the schools reopening. As schools across the state open, the district asks that lawmakers work with superintendents to understand the practical costs they will need to provide to keep moving forward, doing what is right for families while keeping students and staff safe.”
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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