With North Carolina students returning to the classroom full time, Cherokee County’s health director said it’s a safe move.
David Badger said he had supported the measure signed into law by Gov. Roy Cooper on March 12 after passing both chambers of the N.C. General Assembly. Under the act, elementary grades will be required to go in-person, while districts have more leeway for secondary students.
“It’s overall good in general terms,” Badger said. “Obviously, I think that goes with the caveat, and I feel confident that our local school system will continue to do good screenings of symptomatic kids and making sure that we keep those who are symptomatic out of the schools. I think that there’s a lot of evidence to support that it’s safe to incur those transitions back.”
He emphasized that he had been in contact with Cherokee County Schools since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The school district has been good to work with,” Badger said. “This whole past year, they’ve been in contact with us and asked our opinion on different things, and for guidance and dialogue back and forth on ways to best move forward.”
The Cherokee County Board of Education and Superintendent Jeana Conley discussed the rule at the board’s March 11 meeting.
The rule will allow the district to move grades 6-12 to Plan A, meaning minimal social distancing and all students on campus five days a week. However, remote learning will remain an option for some. Elementary students are already under the plan in Cherokee County, and as such won’t be affected by the latest measures.
“You’ve already met that requirement, but you can, at your own discretion move grades 6-12 into Plan A as well,” school board attorney Dean Shatley said.
Conley sad she had sent out a poll to all of the district’s secondary principals, with most saying they would support a complete move to Plan A.
“With a resounding yes, people want to see their kids,” Conley said. “They want to get their kids back as much as possible.”
She said there was some discussion about whether students should be brought back for a full five-day week, or for keeping Wednesdays remote and having students in the building four days a week.
“We have research here to show that the schools who have been able to bring their students back four days a week are scoring much higher on their reading and math skills than the schools that are
operating on a cohort,” Conley said.
She said she hoped to receive the board’s approval on bringing back all students four days a week, with the option to add the fifth day later on in the spring. The board is scheduled to vote on how to bring all students back face to face at its next meeting the week before the district goes on spring break.
“I’d like a little more time to meet with more teachers and more principals and get more feedback before we commit to the five days,” Conley said. ‘I’d also like to see what the neighboring districts are doing.”
She emphasized that the district was meeting the requirements of the law. However, the district will still be required to submit a plan to the N.C.Department of Health & Human Services once a decision has been reached.
“We also have to partner with what’s called the ABC Collaborative,” Shatley said. “It’s out of Duke University, and they are just tracking numbers of this aggregated data on exposures in schools, and they’ve been doing it for the past year.”