Wake teachers warn board that reopening schools will put people at risk of dying
Dozens of Wake County teachers warned school board members Tuesday that the lives of educators and students are being put at risk by reopening schools for in-person instruction.
The Wake County school board approved a plan last week that will begin returning elementary and middle school students for in-person classes on Oct. 26. As board members arrived Tuesday for their first in-person meeting since March, they were greeted by educators holding up signs saying that reopening is putting people’s lives at risk from COVID-19.
Ginny Clayton, an English As A Second Language teacher at Cary High School, held up a sign saying that the COVID-19 trends are going the wrong way in Wake County to reopen schools.
“It’s heartbreaking for me as a teacher because I want to see my students so badly in person, and they’re really struggling,” Clayton said in an interview Tuesday with The News & Observer. “But that’s not the criteria for coming back to school, it’s safety. We ultimately have to do what’s right by our kids by keeping them safe.”
Other protesters, some accompanied by their children, held up signs with messages such as “Why aren’t you protecting my mom! I’m not ok with her being sacrificed,” and “When we get sick or die who will teach our classes?”
Some signs referenced a Stanly County elementary school teacher who died Sunday from COVID-19. That district says the teacher didn’t get the virus from school but all of the third-grade students are under quarantine now.
“I feel confident that we will be able to address the concerns and be able to open up school operations in a sound manner,” school board chairman Keith Sutton said in an interview Tuesday.
Some say school reopening too slow
Tuesday’s rally comes after more than 100 parents and students protested last week outside the district’s headquarters that the reopening isn’t moving fast enough. Speakers complained about how high school students are scheduled to remain with only online classes into January.
Some of those parents spoke out again at Tuesday’s board meeting to say the district needs to be more aggressive about bringing students back for in-person classes. Tuesday’s meeting included new safety rules limiting the number of people who can attend the board meetings, which are still being streamed live online at the district’s YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/user/WakeCountySchools.
“Every meeting should be about getting our kids back into school,” said Christine Hale, a Wake parent. “Nothing should be more important to the Board of Education than education.
“High school students are at higher risk of suicide, drug overdose, alcohol abuse, depression and anxiety. We should be focused on a solution.”
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 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.
The Virtual Academy is helping students who don’t feel safe with returning to campus. The district is providing accommodations for high-risk employees but can’t guarantee it will be able to help all employees who live with high-risk family members.
The board’s decision to reopen schools has angered many teachers, especially because the majority of principals wanted to continue only having online classes for students in fourth through eighth grades for the rest of the semester.
School reopening guidelines reviewed
In less than three weeks, the first Wake County students will return for in-person instruction since schools were closed in mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic. Tuesday’s protest took place before the board met to review school reopening guides that will be given to families and school employees explaining how schools will be different this fall.
The guidelines emphasize the need for regularly washing hands and trying to maintain social distancing as much as possible.
All students, school employees and visitors are required to pass a daily temperature check and health screening before they’re allowed on campus. Unless they get an exemption, school employees, students and visitors must wear a cloth face covering while they’re on school buses and at school.
The guidelines warn that students who refuse to wear face coverings after repeated warnings could be suspended from school and required to go back to online learning only. Employees who repeatedly refuse to wear face coverings could be disciplined and fired.
But the school employees who protested Tuesday said there are still too many unanswered questions about how schools will reopen. Some signs complained about how teachers are now expected to teach both the in-person students as well as those who are learning online.
Multiple signs charged that the lives of educators and students are being viewed as “expendable” by the school district.
“We have a lot of unanswered questions about ensuring that the reopening plan is safe for students and staff,” Christina Spears, the district’s special assistant for equity and one of the protesters, said in an interview.
“We wish those questions had been asked and answered as a part of conversations with educators before a vote instead of being asked after a vote with plans still being created.”
Wake NCAE tweeted to school board members a list of concerns that were raised in the signs. Sutton, the board chairman, said they will work to answer those questions.
“We’ll try to do what we can to make them feel confident that their return to school, return to work is safe,” Sutton said. “So we’ve got some work to do in our communication with them. But hopefully we can respond to each of the questions and instill some confidence that schools are safe.”
This story was originally published October 6, 2020 at 4:34 PM.
