Wake County schools may reopen even though principals and teachers want a delay
Wake County school leaders are moving ahead with plans to bring students back on campus despite the concerns of principals and teachers who say it’s not safe yet to return due to COVID-19.
The Wake County school board will vote Tuesday on a plan to begin bringing students back for limited in-person classes on Oct. 26 with elementary students transitioning to daily, in-person classes Nov. 16. But school employees are raising objections in surveys — principals, in particular, say they want to wait until January before bringing students back.
“School-based employees are the ones who are going to be implementing the plan,” Kristin Beller, president of the Wake County chapter of the North Carolina Association of Educators, said in an interview with The News & Observer. “If there are going to be consequences, they’re the ones who are facing them.
“They’re the experts in student learning. We should be listening to them.”
School leaders say they are trying to balance the concerns of employees with those of parents who say that their children need to be back in school because online learning isn’t working for them.
“Some want us to return to full, face-to-face instruction as soon as possible,” school board chairman Keith Sutton said at this week’s board meeting. “Others want us to wait longer until we are sure that it is safe to do so.
“This board is challenged with trying to balance the risks and benefits of a return to school, and given the recommendation from staff, we will most likely land somewhere in the middle.”
Schools reopen for students
Wake County’s 162,000 students haven’t had in-person instruction since Gov. Roy Cooper ordered all North Carolina public schools closed in March to try to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Cooper initially allowed school districts to reopen in August under “Plan B,” an option that allows schools to have in-person classes if they limit the number of students on campus and on school buses. Most districts opted to start the school year only using remote classes.
On Sept. 17, Cooper announced he’ll allow school districts to open elementary schools on “Plan A” starting Oct. 5. This option has no capacity restrictions, so elementary students could get full-time, daily, in-person instruction.
Elementary schools that use Plan A will still have to follow new safety protocols such as 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 on school buses and at school.
Cooper’s announcement has produced a variety of responses. Durham and Chatham counties decided this week to stick with only online classes into January while Johnston County will begin daily classes for elementary students in October.
Wake school administrators recommended Wednesday having PreK-5 students and K-12 special education students in regional programs starting Oct. 26, with a rotation of one week of in-person classes and two weeks of online courses. Those students would shift to daily, in-person classes on Nov. 16.
The plan also has Wake middle school and high school students starting the three-week rotation on Nov. 9.
Wake will continue to offer the Virtual Academy for students who only want to take online courses.
Principals want to delay return to January
Before the plan was presented, the district surveyed school employees and parents. The school district said Friday that the responses from the parental surveys were still being compiled.
The leadership of the Wake County Division of Principals and Assistant Principals was largely against reopening in October. Thirty-three of the 49 members of its board responded to the group’s survey, with these results:
▪ 69.7% indicated that they did not think it was feasible to return students to face-to-face instruction by Oct. 26, or Oct. 19 for modified/year-round calendars.
▪ 90.9% believed student learning would increase if they returned in the second semester, which starts in January.
“Like you, the members of the Division Board desire a return to in person instruction,” Teresa Caswell, president of the Division of Principals and Assistant Principal, wrote in a Monday letter to school leaders. “Similar to many parents, there are concerns with reopening safely and effectively.”
Superintendent Cathy Moore told the board that “the small sample” of principals that was surveyed “was very uncomfortable and not sure if we’re ready for a return prior to the end of October.” But she said answering their questions will help build confidence in reopening.
Teachers apprehensive about returning
Teachers weren’t given the option of answering in the survey that they didn’t want students to return yet. Of the return options, Moore said bringing back PreK-2 students and regional program special-ed students first was the most preferred option. Support dropped as the options increased the number of students who’d return immediately.
Moore said that the return of students means some teachers will have to juggle working with Virtual Academy students and both the in-person and online Plan B students.
“I would not offer a recommendation that did not meet our goal of safe in-person instruction,” Moore said. “But reaching that goal is a tremendous challenge for everyone: parents, administrators and especially teachers. In fact what I would suggest we’re asking of teachers is really the hardest of all.”
Wake is making accommodations, such as letting high-risk teachers work in the Virtual Academy. But the district can’t guarantee that employees who live with high-risk family members will get accommodations.
Beller, of Wake NCAE, warned that some veteran teachers are making plans now to retire rather than deal with the potential health risks.
“This is forcing some people into a decision they otherwise wouldn’t be making now,” she said.
Will students follow safety rules?
A concern raised by principals and teachers is how well they can get students to follow new guidelines such as wearing face masks and keeping socially distant when possible.
In the group’s letter to Moore, the principals asked questions such as how Wake would manage the 3 W’s of wearing a face covering, waiting at least 6 ft. apart and washing hands frequently for “our youngest students, ‘invincible’ teenagers, and students with significant cognitive delays attending regional programs.”
Beller, a former kindergarten teacher, questioned how well students will remember to do things such as not play with their face mask, open doors with their elbows and not touch other children or their things.
“These are young folks who haven’t been around other classmates in six months,” Beller said. “They’re going to be really excited to see each other. They’re going to be touching each other.”
The district says it’s developing guidelines for consequences for repeatedly violating safety rules.
Beller said she’s asked the Wake school board to at least delay the start of daily, in-person classes so that elementary teachers can get more time to work out the kinks for reopening. But Beller says that she was told that a delay is not going to happen.
“There’s a lot of pressure to get back to normal and they think sending kids back to school will send things back to normal,” Beller said. “It won’t. Some things for some families will be better.
“But it would be a mischaracterization to say that sending kids back to school right now would solve all the problems of the pandemic and all the negative things families are going through.”
This story was originally published September 25, 2020 at 2:43 PM.
