Johnston County elementary students will get daily, in-person classes. Here’s the plan.
Johnston County elementary students will return for daily in-person classes in October after state leaders eased rules around reopening schools for North Carolina’s youngest students.
The Johnston County school board unanimously approved a reopening plan Thursday that will stagger when students return to school. Kindergartners will start Oct. 12 for daily in-person classes. Students in first to second grades will return Oct. 19. Third through fifth grades will start Oct. 26.
“It will allow us to slowly and intentionally and purposefully ease our way back into school,” Superintendent Eric Bracy told the board.
The district previously planned to have elementary students come in for two days a week of classes until Gov. Roy Cooper announced Sept. 17 that he’s allowing elementary schools to fully reopen.
Middle and high schools across North Carolina are still subject to more restrictive reopening rules that limit how many students can be in schools and on buses.
In Johnston County, students in sixth through 12th grades will be split into two groups that have in-person classes on Mondays and Tuesdays or Thursdays and Fridays starting Oct. 19. They’ll have online classes the days they’re not in school.
Students learning from home since March
Many North Carolina students haven’t had in-person instruction since Cooper ordered all public schools closed in March to try to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Cooper announced last week he will allow school districts to open elementary schools on “Plan A” starting Oct. 5. This option has no capacity restrictions, so elementary students can get full-time, daily, in-person instruction. State leaders cited the lower transmission risks of COVID-19 among younger children and the benefits of face-to-face classes.
But the N.C. Association of Educators is asking teachers to lobby against returning to daily in-person instruction, saying it’s not yet safe to bring students back on campus.
Johnston school board member Ronald Johnson asked whether principals thought the reopening plan was impossible, possible or a great idea. Donald Pearce, area assistant superintendent for the southwest/northeast region, responded that they’ve heard all three reactions from principals.
“Overall, there’s some frustrations, there’s some excitement,” Pearce said. “But every one of them, they want to see kids in their building. That’s exciting them. But they want people to be safe, too.”
Elementary schools that use Plan A will still have to follow new safety protocols, including requiring students and employees to pass daily temperature checks and health screenings before they’re allowed on campus. Students and staff will also have to wear face coverings at school and on buses.
Families are being told to be ready to return to remote learning for up to 14 days if their child’s classroom or school is closed due to a positive COVID-19 case.
Original plan
Johnston County school leaders reluctantly opted to begin the school year on Aug. 17 with only online courses. Johnston County is North Carolina’s seventh-largest school district, with nearly 37,000 students.
Monday will be the first day of in-person classes for K-12 special-education students in self-contained classes and Pre-K students. They’re coming back first because their class sizes are smaller.
The district had planned to bring back kindergarten students the week of Oct. 12 and grades 1-5 the following week for their rotation of two days a week of in-person classes and three days of online classes.
The new timeline has kindergarten students returning the week of Oct. 5 for their two days of in-person classes before going full-time the following week. Bracy said kindergarten students will be able to get used to being in school that week.
The district will continue to offer the Virtual Program for families who don’t feel comfortable with returning back to campus. Bracy said some Virtual Program students who may not like only having two days a week of classes may return if they can get in-person classes every day.
Now that students are returning, Johnston will no longer allow employees to work from home unless their request is approved by Human Resources. Employees whose teleworking requests aren’t approved may have to take unpaid leave if accommodations can’t be provided.
“Where we can, we will accommodate the requests to telework,” said Brian Vetrano, chief of human resources. “But I have to be honest, and I can’t stand up here and say that every employee will be able to telework who has requested it. Because in the end, we have to have a sufficient number of employees at our school to not only be able to instruct our students but to handle all these other processes and procedures.”
Districts review elementary school plan
School districts are re-evaluating their reopening plans for elementary schools.
Wake County is considering resuming daily in-person instruction for elementary students on Nov. 16. This would occur after elementary students return for in-person classes Oct. 26 as part of a rotation of one week of in-person classes and two weeks of online courses.
But Orange County is still considering a plan that would have students use a mix of in-person and online courses starting in late October. Despite Cooper’s new flexibility, school leaders there say they don’t feel it’s time yet to bring students back for daily classes.
In Chatham County, the school board voted Wednesday to continue using only remote instruction for the rest of the semester, which ends Jan. 15.
In Durham, the school board voted Thursday to continue with only online classes for the rest of the semester, which ends Jan. 15.
This story was originally published September 24, 2020 at 8:14 PM.
