January return for Wake high school students is ‘not acceptable,’ parents say at rally
More than 100 parents and students rallied in front of the Wake County school system’s headquarters on Thursday to demand that students be allowed to return to school immediately.
The Wake County school board board approved a plan Tuesday that will begin returning elementary and middle school students for in-person classes on Oct. 26. But Wake will keep high school students on online courses only into January, citing issues such as inability to maintain social distancing limits if they return to campus.
Attendees at Thursday’s rally said North Carolina’s largest school district needs to allow all students who want to be in school back now. Protesters held up signs saying things like “Reopen Our Schools Our Kids Need It,” “Open Schools For Everyone” and “No Child Left Behind High Schoolers Too.”
“It’s been 201 days since our children have been in schools and the plan that they came up with is not acceptable at all,” said Sherril Thorne Phelan, the person who organized the rally and the mother of two Fuquay-Varina High students.
“We need to rally together and show them that we’re not happy and they need to come up with a plan.“
The majority of Wake’s 160,000 students signed up for the Virtual Academy, either for just this semester or the full school year. Those students will only get online courses.
School board changes reopening plan
But the remaining families didn’t sign up for the Virtual Academy in hopes of returning for in-person classes this school year. Their lobbying efforts got the board to reject Tuesday a plan from Superintendent Cathy Moore to keep students in fourth through eighth grades on remote instruction for the rest of the fall semester.
Wake’s PreK-3 students and K-12 special-education students in regional programs will return for in-person instruction on Oct. 26. They will be on a cycle of one week of in-person classes and two weeks of remote classes, before switching to daily in-person classes on Nov. 16.
Middle school students also will return to school Nov. 9 for a three-week rotation of in-person and online courses. Fourth- and fifth-grade students will begin on that rotation on Nov. 16.
The board’s decision has angered many teachers, especially because it was made despite the concerns they and principals raised about being able to safely reopen now.
The board took a position that’s in the middle, according to school board chairman Keith Sutton.
“We share the same desire to return students to school,” Sutton said in an interview Thursday with The News & Observer. “But it’s our plan to do so in a careful and thoughtful manner that ensures we can return students and staff to schools safely in an operationally sound manner.
“There are some who feel it’s soon and some who feel it’s not soon enough.”
Schools follow state reopening rules
The state’s public schools are currently operating under different rules based on grade level.
Elementary schools are allowed to operate on “Plan A,” which has no capacity restrictions on buses or schools. Elementary students can get full-time, daily, in-person instruction starting Oct. 5.
Elementary schools still need to follow new rules such as making sure students, staff and visitors pass temperature checks and health screenings before they’re allowed in the building. All people must wear face coverings in buses and on campus.
Middle schools and high schools have to operate on “Plan B,” which limits how many people can ride buses and be on campus to maintain social distancing. The limit means students are either getting a mix of in-person and online classes or only online classes, depending on the school district.
Gov. Roy Cooper said Wednesday that there’s no timeline on when he’ll allow middle schools and high schools to move to Plan A.
Rally calls for return of high school students
Brian Groesser, a Holly Springs parent, told the crowd Thursday that there’s no reason why Wake students aren’t going back to school as soon as Monday. Groesser said that Wake high school students are being put at a competitive disadvantage against students who are getting in-person classes now.
“We’re here today to see if we can get these classes opened up for everybody, high schoolers included,” said Groesser, who has a child at Apex Friendship High School. “These high schoolers cannot afford to be out of school for two whole quarters.”
The rally turned into a campaign event as well for school board candidates running against the incumbents. Several candidates told the crowd they’d reopen schools if they’re elected.
“We need serious change on this school board, serious change,” said school board candidate Greg Hahn. “You can’t just have one or two people elected into this school board. You need everybody to make serious change.”
Hahn is running in District 2, which includes parts of Fuquay-Varina, Willow Spring, Garner and Raleigh. Also in the race are incumbent Monika Johnson-Hostler and challenger Dorian Hamilton.
This story was originally published October 1, 2020 at 7:13 PM.
