Johnston County students will start with online classes only. Here’s the plan.
Johnston County students will join their peers in the Triangle by starting the new school year with online-only classes instead of returning for in-person instruction.
The Johnston County school board approved a plan late Wednesday night to use remote instruction only for the first three weeks of classes, from Aug. 17 through Sept. 7. Middle school and high school students will take classes virtually until further notice, but elementary school students will return to the classroom Sept. 8 for face-to-face classes two days a week.
The district also plans to bring K-12 special-education students in self-contained classrooms back for daily face-to-face instruction on Sept. 8. School leaders said they’ll try to bring middle school and high school students back to school as soon as they can.
“This is just a starting point for us,” school board chairman Todd Sutton said before the vote. “The end point is when all students get back in front of their teachers on a day-to-day basis, because we all agree that face-to-face is the best way to learn and to be educated.”
Johnston joins at least 31 North Carolina school districts that have decided it’s not safe yet for students to return for face-to-face classes.
Johnston transportation officials had drawn up a plan, based on reduced bus capacity limits, to split all of the district’s K-12 students into three groups on a rotation with one week of in-person classes and two weeks of remote learning. But board members said they wanted to give elementary school students and their parents more consistency with at least some in-person classes every week.
The board told staff to use the time between now and Labor Day to draw up new routes that would allow them to split elementary students into two groups. One group would have classes on Monday and Tuesday and the other on Thursday and Friday.
Elementary students would learn from home the days they’re not in school. The district would use Wednesdays to deep-clean elementary schools and to give those teachers planning time.
School leaders said they’ll survey elementary parents again to see how many children plan to ride the bus. The state is limiting buses to one child per seat, unless they’re siblings, so the district needs to get a full accounting of ridership to make the plan for elementary students to work.
Schools draw up reopening plans
All North Carolina K-12 public schools have been closed for in-person instruction since mid-March to try to slow the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
Gov. Roy Cooper announced last week he’s reopening K-12 public schools 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 that face coverings 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. Bus capacity is reduced to a third of normal capacity under the new social-distancing requirements.
But 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.
School board members said transportation capacity shouldn’t drive the education that children get. They said elementary school students would not do well in a system where they’re only getting face-to-face classes one out of every three weeks.
“We can’t throw those children away,” said board vice chairwoman Peggy Smith. “Their teachers are their smiles. They’re their love. They give them so much more than just reading, writing and arithmetic.”
Support from parents, teachers to reopen schools
A district survey of employees conducted last week found that 70.7% would return to work under Plan B. A survey of 26,910 parents found that 18,742 wanted at least some face-to-face instruction.
“There are a tremendous amount of parents and staff that want to go back to work,” said board member Ronald Johnson. “If I sit up here and think I know better than them and that I’m going to make the decision that they’re not smart enough to make, then I don’t deserve to be here.”
Johnson said parents who don’t want their children to return can pick the new Johnston County Virtual Program. Cooper is requiring districts to offer remote learning options for students who don’t feel comfortable returning for in-person classes.
As of Wednesday evening, 9,253 students had signed up for the Johnston County Virtual Program, around 25% of the district’s total enrollment. Those students will be guaranteed to stay in remote learning for as long as they’re in the program.
If enough students who were bus riders sign up for the virtual program, the district may be able to adjust the schedules for the students who are in school.
The district plans to extend the application period for the Virtual Program. Go to https://www.johnston.k12.nc.us/domain/9902 for more information.
This story was originally published July 22, 2020 at 11:54 PM.
