Not all Wake students may go to school every day. See what options are on the table.
The Wake County school system is helping to arrange child care options for families should schools reopen under a schedule in which students don’t have classes every weekday.
Wake County school administrators are developing reopening plans for this fall that could see some students go to school every other day or every other week to meet state-mandated social distancing requirements. School leaders say they recognize this schedule will be difficult for families so they’re trying to help ensure the community has enough child care seats.
School administrators on Wednesday laid out the options being explored. They plan to use the school board’s feedback to make a recommendation Tuesday on what plan to use for the 2020-21 school year.
“It will be a plan that WCPSS can implement based on what we know we can accomplish,” Superintendent Cathy Moore told the board. “It might be more conservative than what we might otherwise want in order to ensure that we can accomplish it.”
School districts and charter schools across North Carolina are working on plans for how to reopen schools after having been closed since mid-March to try to slow the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
Schools are being asked to develop three reopening plans, ranging from using minimal to moderate social distancing to offering only online learning.
Gov. Roy Cooper will decide by July 1 which plan level should be used. School districts can use a more restrictive plan but not a less restrictive one.
Wake school officials said they realize no plan will work for every parent or school employee. Wake is North Carolina’s largest school district with 161,907 students and 20,000 school employees.
“Any option that we implement, we have to recognize will have different impacts on individual families, students and staff,” said Brian Pittman, senior director for high school programs. “It isn’t possible to simply say this is good for families or not, this is good for staff or not.”
Plan A: Minimal social distancing
Officials are watching several statewide COVID-19 metrics, including new cases, hospitalizations and the rate of positive tests. If those measures stabilize and improve, schools would reopen under Plan A with “minimal social distancing” and all students would be on campus at the same time.
Social distancing would be required only where individuals may congregate, such as hallways, reception areas, cafeterias, restrooms and lockers.
A majority of parents and teachers have said in district surveys they won’t be comfortable with returning to campus on Plan A. Regardless of which plan is used, Pittman said an online-only option will be provided next school year for families who aren’t ready to return for face-to-face classes.
Schools would be required to do daily symptom screening and temperature checks of all students, staff and visitors who enter schools and buses.
3 options under Plan B: Moderate social distancing
If the COVID-19 benchmarks don’t improve, more stringent requirements with “moderate social distancing” would be used in Plan B. Schools and buses would be required to operate at 50% capacity and students to maintain 6 feet of social distancing.
“Which of these options that we go to is largely going to be driven by social distancing in terms of facilities and transportation realities,” Pittman said.
Pittman laid out three options being considered for Plan B:
▪ Students in grades Pre-K to 2 would return to school for face-to-face instruction. Students in grades 3-12 would get fully online instruction.
▪ Students would go to school on alternating days — potentially every other day or once every three days. They’d do remote learning when they’re not in school.
▪ Students would go to school on alternating weeks. They’d do remote learning when not in school.
Child care options being studied
Parents have complained that the alternating schedules would disrupt their lives. School officials say they’ve been discussing with the YMCA of the Triangle about what child care options could be provided when students are not in school if Plan B is used.
“One of the elephants in the room if we end up landing on a blended schedule is what do we do with daycare,” said Tim Simmons, Wake’s chief communications officer.
Simmons said they’ll likely need to reach out to municipal recreation programs, churches and other private providers to meet the demand. He said they’re seeking private funding to subsidize the child care effort.
Plan C: Fully remote learning
If the metrics worsen, schools would operate on Plan C in which only remote learning is used. Pittman said the learning would be better than the emergency instruction offered when schools closed in the spring.
Pittman said schools may shift between different plans during the school year depending on the health conditions.
Moore, the superintendent, said student learning is a big factor behind the plans being drawn up.
“We do want to ensure that the plan prioritizes student learning within whatever constraints we may have,” she said.
This story was originally published June 24, 2020 at 1:04 PM.
