Wake school board candidates argue over how soon to return kids to in-person classes
This fall’s Wake County school board elections could turn into a referendum on how the public feels that school reopening is being handled in North Carolina’s largest school district.
Wake County plans to begin returning students for in-person classes on Oct. 26 for the first time since schools were closed in March to try to slow the spread of COVID-19. Depending on the grade level, some students will get daily face-to-face classes while others will get no or only limited in-person instruction this semester.
A coalition of six school board candidates say the incumbents have been too slow in bringing students back. They say they’ll work to bring back as soon as possible all students who want in-person classes.
“We should follow the science and we should get our schools reopened,” Deborah Prickett, a candidate for the District 1 seat, said at an Oct. 12 Wake County PTA Council forum. “I would hope that would make a lot of families happy because they are certainly upset now over the situation. I think Wake County, to me, has been more reactive instead of proactive in this process.”
But school board members say they had to weigh the concerns of teachers who don’t feel it’s safe to reopen schools.
“It is extremely delicate to be in the place where you have people who are afraid, who are concerned about their own health, the health of their families, but also knowing that there are children who so desperately need that face-to-face,” school board member Heather Scott said at the District 1 forum.
All 9 board members run for re-election
All nine school board members are running for re-election to two-year terms. Roxie Cash, Christine Kushner, Jim Martin and Keith Sutton have no opposition on their ballots. But Martin is facing a challenge from write-in candidate Mary Beth Moore.
These are the six contested school board races on the ballot:
▪ In District 1, Deborah Prickett is running against incumbent Heather Scott.
▪ In District 2, Greg Hahn is running against Dorian Hamilton and incumbent Monika Johnson-Hostler.
▪ In District 5, incumbent Jim Martin is running against Mary Beth Moore.
▪ In District 7, incumbent Chris Heagarty is running against Rachel Mills.
▪ In District 8, Steve Bergstrom is running against incumbent Lindsay Mahaffey.
▪ In District 9, Karen Carter is running against incumbent Bill Fletcher and Dan Madding. But Madding has suspended his campaign and is endorsing Fletcher.
Bergstrom, Carter, Hahn, Mills, Moore and Prickett are running as a group on reopening schools. School board seats are officially non-partisan, but all six are endorsed by the Wake County Republican Party.
In the contested races, the Wake County Democratic Party is endorsing Heagarty, Johnson-Hostler, Mahaffey, Martin and Scott.
The board is made up of seven Democrats, a Republican and an unaffiliated voter.
Voters can only cast ballots for the school board district they live in. Go to vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup/ to look up your district.
There are other issues in the race, such as whether Wake should keep school resource officers, whether students are being reassigned too much and whether the curriculum is politically biased or not providing enough help for those learning math.
But a recurring theme is the issue of school reopening.
Wake school reopening plan questioned
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.
High school students will continue to only receive online classes for the rest of the fall semester, which ends in January.
Wake will continue to offer the Virtual Academy program for students who don’t feel safe returning to campus or who don’t want to worry about jumping between in-person and online classes.
“As a mom of a high school student, I can relate to all the families who have reached out to share their concerns regarding the approved plan,” Carter said in a news release after the board vote. “I share those same concerns.”
But board members, who split 5-4 on returning students in fourth through eighth grades, have billed it as a compromise.
“We are committed to a safe return to our buildings, making sure that we have the support needed for our students, for our teachers and for our parents that may be nervous about sending their kids back,” Mahaffey said at an Oct. 14 Wake County PTA Council forum.
Bergstrom says the reopening plan leaves many students behind, especially those who won’t be getting daily in-person classes. At the Oct. 6 board meeting, Bergstrom said remote learning has caused some students to go to therapy, to get migraines and even to harm themselves.
“Your plan shows a disregard for families that want a choice to return and can do so,” Bergstrom told the board. “In their words, you are closing your heart, your ears and your eyes to the real issues all around you.
“You do it in favor of what they can only assume is an attempt to appease a teacher union while hoping not to upset too many parents at the same time.”
COVID-19 health risks questioned
A common argument from the challengers is that the health risks from COVID are low for most teachers and students. The say those who are immune-compromised should stick with the online classes.
In an Oct. 12 Facebook Live chat with Republican Congressional candidate Alan Swain, Mills said teachers need to understand there’s always risk, but “the numbers are on your side as far as going back in person.” She said teachers need to remember that they “are providing an essential function of society.”
“The main thing is just to open the schools and have school feel as normal as possible because we’ve always lived with germs,” Mills said. “We’ve always lived with the cold, with the flu, and we will eventually have to learn to live with COVID. That’s an epidemiological fact.”
Schools are reopening under state rules that require students and school employees to pass daily temperature checks and health screenings before they’re allowed on campus. They’re required to wear face coverings on campus, wash their hands frequently and try to maintain social distancing.
It’s uncertain how well the school reopening message will resonate with Wake County voters.
A recent statewide Elon University poll found that 77% of respondents said it was a good decision for most North Carolina public schools to offer only online classes instead of in-person classes at the start of the school year. The poll was done in partnership with The News & Observer, The Charlotte Observer and The Herald-Sun.
Poll respondents were split on when students should return — 48% said most schools shouldn’t return to full-time in-person instruction for most students until there’s a vaccine and/or treatment for COVID-19 or until the start of next school year. That compared to 42% who said students should return either as soon as possible, in the next few months or before the end of the school year.
If most schools do reopen for full-time in-person instruction, 61% said they’d be extremely worried or very worried about the spread of COVID-19 between students, teachers and caregivers.
Board members praise reopening plan
Heagarty has blamed the changing state guidelines on school reopening for complicating Wake’s efforts. But he says Wake’s return plan safely protects teachers and students and addresses how remote learning hasn’t worked for some students.
“There is no good way to do this,” Heagarty said at the Sept. 29 board meeting as they voted on reopening. “But some things are important and we have children that are struggling on 504 plans, on IEP plans that we’re not able to give them the services that they need. Even if it’s just one week before the end of the semester rotating through, I think there’s a benefit.”
Fletcher says Wake should get credit for how it responded to the coronavirus challenge by creating the Virtual Academy, handing out thousands of laptop computers and internet hotspots to families and preparing for students to return to campus. He says parents can help maintain that progress by re-electing the board members.
“We have a good school system,” Fletcher said at the Wake PTA forum. “We have a good board. We have a strong superintendent who is providing the guidance and direction we need to travel through this COVID challenge and to reengage our schools, our students, our teachers, our bus drivers, our child nutrition workers, our support staff, our instructional assistants.”
This story was originally published October 19, 2020 at 5:30 AM.
