Here is the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools’ plan for school reopening

The Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board unanimously approved a staggered re-entry plan for the 2020-21 school year that keeps high school students home doing remote learning until the sixth week.

The first week, Aug. 17-21, will be orientation for all students, and all will attend in person, including high school students.

Gov. Roy Cooper is expected to make an announcement about schools Tuesday at 3 p.m. that he has said could include a combination of in-person and remote learning. It also will include information on face coverings. School districts can use a more restrictive plan but not a less restrictive one, The News & Observer has reported.

The N.C. General Assembly will not allow remote learning the first week of school, said Assistant Superintendent of Support Services Patrick Abele.

Under the plan the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board approved last week, 20% of students in kindergarten through eighth grade will attend school each day, with each child attending only one day that week.

For grades 9-12, ninth-grade students will attend Monday, 10th will attend Tuesday, 11th will attend Wednesday and 12th will attend Thursday. Friday will be a makeup day.

On week 2, Aug. 24-28, grades 1-5 will have half of each school’s students attend Monday and Tuesday and half Thursday through Friday. Wednesday will be a remote learning day for students and a cleaning day. Kindergarten will start regular attendance during week 2, with no staggered entrance, but students will attend on assigned cohort days.

The plan calls for the school buildings to be only 50% full at any time.

The school system expects to start after-school extracurricular activities in week 5 at middle schools. Programs can run until 6 p.m. on days offered and students must be assigned school on that day to attend.

The district is exploring the possibility of starting high school extracurricular activities in week 4. There is the possibility of bus transportation bringing students home between 6 and 7 p.m.

The top priority, Abele said, is getting students in the classrooms. Extracurricular activities will follow.

Abele said the high schools may be bringing in band members and athletes for conditioning, more than 6 feet apart, later this month.

Kindergarten students will begin attending Aug. 24 with no staggered entrance. Students will attend on assigned cohort days. The plan for pre-kindergarten students’ classes is still to be decided.

19 criteria used in drafting reopening plan

Board member Joal Broun said it would be important to support transition students such as kindergarteners, sixth-graders going into middle school and ninth-graders starting high school.

Board member Amy Fowler asked what accommodations would be made for students in classes such as art, developmental and occupational, where remote learning poses particular challenges.

“Teachers have been incredibly creative,” said Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Services Jessica O’Donovan. She pointed to the example of ceramics classes, where teachers sent clay home with students to work on projects.

Fowler also asked what students will do on days away from the classroom. Abele said it would probably be a mix of remote learning and working on assignments from time in the classroom.

Abele said the district officials considered 19 criteria when drafting its final plans, including equity, essentiality to students, essentiality to families and essentiality to the staff.

One option considered, Abele said, was half days for each cohort, but half days leave less time for cleaning and create more bus routes.

The district staff recommended this plan among three it has drawn up. This was known as Plan B. Plan A was to have all the students in the buildings at the same time. There would have been enhanced health protocols.

Plan C would entail all remote learning for all, with school buildings closed. Staff and board members remarked throughout the evening that they are prepared to go to Plan C if conditions warrant.

This story was originally published July 13, 2020 at 7:00 AM.