Decision day looms for Wake County parents this week: In-person or online classes?
Wake County families have to decide this week if they want to spend the last two months of the school year taking only in-person classes or taking all online classes.
In April, Wake County’s middle and high schools will join elementary schools in offering full-time, daily in-person instruction — the first time all schools have done so since the coronavirus pandemic struck in March 2020. Thursday is the deadline for Wake families of all grade levels to either join or leave the Virtual Academy program.
No action is needed if families don’t want to change. Due to the potential demand, Wake says some students leaving the Virtual Academy might have to wait until April 19 before receiving an in-person seat.
“(COVID) numbers are declining, that’s great,” said Jackie Minas, of Cary, the parent of two students in the Virtual Academy. “Teachers are getting vaccinated, that’s great.
“I feel my kids need to get back to normalcy. But they’re doing well.”
Minas said she’s still deciding whether to stay or leave the virtual program.
Students may get new teachers
Like other North Carolina public schools, Wake County created a virtual option for families who weren’t comfortable with returning to in-person classes yet. Virtual programs also appealed to families who wanted scheduling consistency.
The situation changed when a new school reopening law required school districts to offer families by April 1 the option of in-person classes. The law also gave school districts the ability to operate all of their schools on Plan A, which allows for daily in-person classes and has minimal social distancing.
Rachael Sylvester plans to keep her oldest daughter in the virtual program at Sycamore Creek Elementary School in Raleigh. But Sylvester is upset that her child’s teacher may still change anyway if the school needs to bring more teachers back to work with in-person students.
“So, nothing is consistent,” Sylvester said. “Children need consistency; how are they expected to learn when things are constantly changing? And, the worst thing is that there is no need for this change!”
The extent of any scheduling and teacher changes will depend on how many families change at each school.
Wake, which is North Carolina’s largest district, says the new law is the reason they’re extending the offer to families at this late date. Before the law was passed, Wake was requiring Virtual Academy students to stay in the program for the rest of the school year.
Families move to in-person classes
The new law has been a godsend for some of the 77,000 students enrolled this semester in Wake’s Virtual Academy.
Even before the law was passed, Lynda Manus was trying to get her 7-year-old son Bryce switched to in-person classes. The Cary parent said Bryce, who has learning disabilities, has hit a brick wall in his online first-grade classes at Mills Park Elementary School.
“The last couple of weeks have taken a huge downturn for him,” Manus said. “I don’t want him to fall further behind. Getting some sense of normalcy is important.”
Cindy Cottle of Raleigh is looking forward to getting her 10-year-old son used to being around other students again before he starts middle school in the fall. As a psychologist, Cottle said it’s been difficult to watch her son, who has anxiety issues, become less engaged as time goes on in his virtual classes at Lacy Elementary School.
“He’s going to start middle school, and that’s anxiety provoking as is,” Cottle said. “We didn’t want the first time for him to be around other people to be in a new school. That seemed to be overwhelming.”
The more widespread access to COVID-19 vaccines has made it easier for Victoria Caputo to send her son back for in-person classes at Scotts Ridge Elementary School in Apex. Caputo said she and her parents have been vaccinated.
“Even though I’m not entirely happy about it, I think for everybody’s sanity and for his well-being, we’ll send him back in,” Caputo said. “He’s just not just doing well virtually.”
Families leave in-person classes
Other Wake families want to switch from in-person to the Virtual Academy. For some, it’s due to concerns about being in full classrooms with minimal distancing.
Lisa Kinlaw is signing up her 16-year-old daughter, Abby, for the Virtual Academy because they worry what’s offered on campus won’t be better than the instruction given to online students.
Many Wake teachers have had to simultaneously teach in-person students and online students during the pandemic. Kinlaw says what they’re hearing from Sanderson High School in Raleigh doesn’t lead them to think things will change this school year.
“In her head, it wasn’t going to be better at school,” Kinlaw said. “She could focus more at home and get more done at home.”
Turning down in-person option
Some Wake families plan to stay where they are and not change at this late stage in the school year.
“We are still in a pandemic and with only 45 days for in person instruction, we feel we can ‘manage’ that at home until more of the population is vaccinated and until our numbers drop accordingly,” said Ashley Gomez, the parent of three Virtual Academy students.
Sondi Mahoney would dearly love to get her three children back for in-person classes, especially her two youngest kids. But the Wake Forest parent said it’s too soon to leave the Virtual Academy when she, her husband and their 16-year-old daughter haven’t been fully vaccinated yet.
“We have seen firsthand the ravages of a COVID infection with my husband’s family; his brother spent almost two months in a hospital, with several weeks on a ventilator,” Mahoney said. “We’re almost safe. We’ll tough it out with Virtual Academy until we’re at that point.”
Laurie Castaneda has been trying to persuade her 15-year-old daughter, Annika, that it’s time to return to in-person classes at Millbrook High School in Raleigh. But Annika is worried that she might get someone else sick with COVID and doesn’t want to have that on her conscience.
“This year has been a struggle academically, socially and mentally,” Castaneda said. “It’s been a real toll on her. But she’s at that age where I respect her decision.”
This story was originally published March 29, 2021 at 1:32 PM.
