Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools delay Plan B reopening because of rising COVID cases
The story was updated at 9 a.m. Jan. 8 to clarify when some Chapel Hill-Carrboro students returned to campus.
Chapel Hill-Carrboro students won’t return to the classroom as planned later this month because of the rise in COVID-19 cases statewide since Thanksgiving.
For now, the school board expects to reopen under Plan B in-person and remote learning in March, a year after moving to online learning. The plan would bring elementary students back March 1, middle school students March 8 and high school students March 15.
Administrators anticipate needing about five weeks to get staff, students and families ready to return once a date is set. The school board will meet again Jan. 21 to review COVID-19 trends and consider whether to delay the return by another month.
An April return would be complicated by spring break and the pending end-of-course exams for high school students. The proposed schedule for an April return leaves high school students in remote learning for the rest of the school year.
That could change if the district brings students back in larger groups or schedules spring break for earlier in March.
“There was a real desire by the board to make sure high school students are included in that return” if it happens in April, board Chair Jillian La Serna said Tuesday in an interview with The News & Observer. Board member Rani Dasi urged the board in December to do whatever is necessary to make sure high school students, especially seniors, spend at least part of the year at school.
“Speaking as the parent of a senior, I don’t want to shut that door,” Dasi said. “The reality is it’s not likely we would go back, but if there is any hope, I’d say let’s leave it open for now until we have to make the final call.”
Even spending the last nine weeks at school could have benefits, La Serna said, noting there are also kindergartners, sixth-graders and ninth-graders who have never been inside their new schools. Teachers and students also could use the time to prepare for returning to school in August, district spokesman Jeff Nash said.
“There could be positive, I think, ramifications for coming back even if it was for a shorter amount of time, whether that’s seeing that building, thinking about safety protocols for the first time, or if you’re exiting that level,” La Serna said.
Rising COVID numbers, concerns
New vaccines offer hope, interim Superintendent Jim Causby told the school board Dec. 17, but a tough winter lies ahead and the ABC Science Collaborative does not expect schools to return to normal until the fall of 2022.
The collaborative is a group of medical and science experts working with school districts nationwide to plan for the return to school.
“We’ve seen such a spike that it’s become alarming, and everything that I’m reading and everything I’m hearing is that there’s an expectation that the number of positive cases is going to continue to increase,” Causby said.
COVID-19 numbers across the state continued to climb this week, with Orange County reaching 420 cases for every 100,000 residents in the last 14 days, state data showed Tuesday. On Dec. 17, the county had 367 cases for every 100,000 residents.
The number of positive COVID tests, meanwhile, reached 16.5% statewide on Jan. 2, compared with a 12.5% positive testing rate reported Dec. 17. Orange County’s positive testing rate rose to 6.3%, compared with 4.9% in December.
Roughly 9% of the county’s 5,272 COVID cases have affected those under age 18, data showed.
Chapel Hill-Carrboro board member Ashton Powell noted in December that delaying the return to school gives the community time to get vaccinated and reduce the number of COVID-19 cases.
“Our community has a role to play in being able to get us back in the schools, and so if we aren’t taking the vaccine and getting the numbers down, we’re not going to come back,” he said.
Wake County pauses; Orange returning; Durham stays home
Wake County has struggled with COVID-19 infections and providing enough teachers and substitutes since students began returning to in-person learning Oct. 26. In December, the Wake County school board voted to keep its 157,000 students in virtual-only classes from Jan. 4-15. This week, the district was reporting 495 cases since October.
Durham Public Schools has remained remote since March. In November, the school board voted to allow families to enroll children in kindergarten to fifth grade for in-person instruction in the spring, but only if the county’s positive case rate fell below 4% for two weeks. Currently, the rate is at 6.9%.
The Orange County Schools, which brought smaller groups of students back in November and December, has reported at least 20 COVID-19 cases since October. The district is expected to reopen Jan. 25 on a Plan B hybrid schedule.
Chapel Hill-Carrboro also brought athletes back to campus in October, and some students, including in exceptional children’s classes, in December. The district had reported 45 infections or close-contact notifications between October and Dec. 17, Causby said.
He shared a Chapel Hill-Carrboro Association of Educators survey taken Dec. 9-15 that showed nearly 84% of the 1,045 district’s staff who responded did not want to return to school for the second semester in January.
Over a quarter of the staff said they would ask for permission to stay home or a modification if the board decided to reopen the schools, and only 49% said they would return to work if they didn’t have another option. Over 10% said they would retire or resign.
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board has heard and takes “very, very seriously” the concerns expressed by teachers and families, member Mary Ann Wolf said in December.
Nyah Hamlett, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro district’s new superintendent who started work Jan. 1, said in an email Monday she will support whatever decision the board makes.
“I’d say that our Board is committed to having students return to in-person learning as quickly and as safely as possible,” Hamlett said in an email statement Monday to The News & Observer. “Our commitment is to provide an environment conducive to meeting the academic and social and emotional needs of our students, staff, and families.”
Staff writer Charlie Innis contributed to this report.
This story was originally published January 6, 2021 at 5:45 AM.
