COVID-19 could keep all Wake County students learning from home until late October
Updated Aug. 7
The Wake County school system hopes to begin bringing back the bulk of its students for in-person classes in late October or early November, after using online classes only for the start of the new school year.
Drew Cook, Wake’s assistant superintendent of academics, said Tuesday that the goal is to begin bringing students back in the second quarter for traditional-calendar schools, which would push it after the first nine weeks of classes. A nine-week delay matches up with what several other school districts are doing before they start in-person classes.
“The goal is to be able to transition to in-person instruction as soon as is safely possible, perhaps by the beginning of the second quarter with a prioritized scheduling of students returning by cohorts,” Cook said at Tuesday’s school board meeting.
Superintendent Cathy Moore said the district is creating a scientific advisory board to work with local health experts on how to handle reopening and COVID-19 issues. She said they’re not ready yet for students to return to campus for in-person instruction.
“The reopening of schools has no playbook, no manual,” Moore said. “None of this has been done before.”
Some high school students began the new school year this week. But the majority of Wake’s 162,000 students are set to have their first day of classes on Aug. 17.
Majority of students sign up for Virtual Academy
More than half of Wake students have opted out of returning to campus for at least the fall semester. Cook said that 82,628 students, about 51% of the district’s enrollment, have signed up for either the fall semester or the full school year at the new Virtual Academy program.
The high Virtual Academy response rate could make it easier to bring the remaining students back for in-person classes.
Under current state health restrictions, Wake would be limited in how many students could ride school buses and be on campus. Wake has been looking at splitting students into three groups on a rotation of one week of face-to-face classes and two weeks of remote learning.
The district announced Friday it was delaying its plan to bring back special-education students in regional programs and Pre-K students for daily in-person instruction on Sept. 8. No new date was announced.
Orientation planned for first two weeks
Details were provided Tuesday about how the first two weeks of school will be held. That period will be orientation to prepare students for online instruction during at least the first quarter of the school year.
During those two weeks, students will have a chance to meet with teachers virtually and to pick up computers and Wi-Fi hotspot devices. Schools may choose to provide live online instruction during that period but it’s not required, so parents will need to check with teachers.
By the third week, all schools will be required to provide two to three hours a day of live online instruction for students. Schools will also be providing pre-recorded learning activities. Wake will be taking attendance during the virtual classes and grading assignments.
“High-class learning will take place,” said Seydric Williams, northwest Wake area superintendent.
Cook emphasized to school board members that training is being provided to teachers to help them in this new online environment. The online instruction at the end of last school year drew complaints from many parents.
Individual schools will pick whether to use Google Classroom or Canvas as the online system that teachers will use.
Childcare options being developed
More details also were provided Tuesday about how childcare will be provided to help working families.
The district plans to provide childcare on campuses for children of school employees. Cook said that 10,000 childcare spaces have been identified by the school district and community groups for families of non-school employees in an initiative called FAST (Families And Students Together).
“At its core, FAST is simply a way to make sure staff and families can access free or affordable supervision for their children where part of each day is set aside for academics,” Cook said. “This is absolutely critical to improve the quality of remote learning for the 2020-21 school year.”
A list of available childcare options will be released later this week.
The district is also working with school employees by giving them a nine-week phase-in period during which they will be allowed to work from home as long as they can still perform their duties.
Wake plans to provide accommodations after that nine-week period for high-risk employees who don’t think it’s safe to work in a school environment before a COVID-19 vaccine is developed.
Moore, the superintendent, said the delay to beginning in-person instruction will help employees be comfortable with the new safety measures being put in place. Wake has purchased $3 million in personal protective equipment and other health related supplies, including 1 million face coverings, thousands of digital thermometers and 20,000 gallons of liquid hand sanitizer.
“It is important to note that the district is not sacrificing the health of any staff member in our work as we move forward,” Moore said.
Schools reopen with virtual classes only
Wake is among at least 64 school districts and 50 charter schools in the state that have decided it’s not yet safe to resume face-to-face classes. Two-thirds of North Carolina’s public school students, representing more than 1 million children, will begin the new school year in August using only remote learning.
Last month, Gov. Roy Cooper announced he’s allowing K-12 public schools to reopen in August under a “moderate social distancing” plan that limits how many students can be in schools and on buses. This Plan B also mandates daily temperature checks and health screenings, increased school cleanings and face coverings to be worn by all students and school employees.
Plan B requires schools to limit capacity so that they can maintain 6 feet of social distancing between people in classrooms. It also requires schools to limit buses to one child per seat unless they are family members.
Cooper also gave school districts the option to use Plan C, which only has remote instruction. He’s not permitting schools to reopen for full-time, in-person instruction, which is Plan A.
A group called North Carolina Education Is Essential held a rally Tuesday in Raleigh calling on Cooper to require school districts to provide an in-person school option to families.
This story was originally published August 4, 2020 at 5:29 PM with the headline "COVID-19 could keep all Wake County students learning from home until late October."
