Wake County school board votes to grant superintendent authority to increase in-person instruction
Wake County Public School System Superintendent Cathy Moore will have more discretion to expand in-person learning, under a measure approved by the county school board Tuesday night.
It’s the first of a handful of expected votes to further expand the district’s in-person instruction. Later this month, the schools board will hear proposals from Moore on moving 4th and 5th grade students to Plan A everyday in-person instruction and expanding in-person learning opportunities for 6th through 12th grade students.
Tuesday's measure allows Moore to permit more students to attend daily in-person classes in rotating cohorts in middle and high school, so long as other rules are still followed, such as social distancing requirements.
It also allows Moore to act quickly on expanding in-person instruction, if required by a new state law to do so.
The vote was 7-2 in favor, with board members Jim Martin and Karen Carter voting against it.
Martin said he continues to question the district’s decision-making process and have concerns about COVID-19 cases among the county’s young people, while Carter said she was concerned about the public not having input before Tuesday night.
The measure was not on the board’s agenda until the board added it at the beginning of the meeting.
If students in special education or who need other accommodations are required to return to classroom if they want, every school will have to evaluate their approach to accommodating students differently, Board Member Chris Heaggarty said. So it’s not feasible for the Wake County school board to be the decision-maker for how to comply with a new law that might require schools to allow those students to return, he said.
“I don’t know that we as a board can go school by school by school, judging each case and evaluating each case and dithering and delaying while we have this legislative mandate and while students have this need to get back into school,” Heaggarty said.
Next week, Moore plans to ask the county Board of Education to move 4th and 5th grades to five days per week of in-person learning.
Moore wants the board to call a special meeting Tuesday to vote on the proposal, which, if passed, could take effect as soon as March 15.
In two weeks, at the board’s next regularly scheduled meeting March 16, Moore plans to ask the board to schedule more in-person learning for middle schools and high school students, perhaps by reducing cohorts. She’ll work with principals in the meantime to form a plan for those secondary grades.
On Tuesday, some board members responded favorably to the idea of moving 4th and 5th grades to Plan A, while Martin questioned whether only a couple of weeks of downward-trending COVID-19 cases was enough to prompt looser restrictions.
Moore said the staff’s proposal was based on the guidance of the governor, state and local health data and experience from the last two weeks of returning to in-person instruction.
“We believe, based on discussions with area superintendents and principals, that we can safely hold classes in person for these children,” Moore said of the 4th and 5th grades. “We should not pretend, however, that we are returning to normal because we are not. Children will still need to be screened everyday, face coverings continue to be mandatory, COVID coordinators will still be present in every school, eating and drinking guidelines will still be in place.”
For those grades, social distancing won’t be possible, and it is not required under Plan A. Moore said those grades haven’t been able to socially distance in the classroom since November.
This news comes on the heels of a North Carolina public schools survey revealing that one in five of students are at risk of failing their current grade in the 2020-21 school year.
It also comes a day after a bill to force more K-12 schools to open in-person classes failed to pass due to Gov. Roy Cooper's objections.
VACCINNATIONS
More than 5,600 Wake County educators could have at least one COVID-19 vaccination shot by the end of the week.
Last week, from Feb. 24 through Feb. 27, about 2,530 Wake County educators received a vaccine through one of the district’s five partners, according to a presentation made during the board’s work session Tuesday afternoon.
This week, 3,110 more doses are available, meaning more than half of the 10,000 district educators who expressed an interest in getting the vaccine could be able to get their first dose.
The speed of the rollout for teacher is encouraging for the district, which didn’t expect it to go this fast, Moore said.
Board Chairman Keith Sutton said all 10,000 of the educators who are interested in the vaccine could get both doses within the next 30-45 days.
“Two weeks ago that seemed impossible,” Sutton said. “That’s incredibly amazing to hear.”
OTHER ITEMS
County school officials also told the board of plans for next year’s first grade students and for new enrollment caps at four additional schools.
The district wants to add enrollment caps at Northwoods Elementary,, Zebulon Elementary, Apex Friendship Middle and Apex Friendship High schools.
The overflow schools would be, respectively, Cary Elementary, Wakelon Elementary, Apex Middle and Apex High schools.
The board would have to vote on the caps, which the district plans to ask for at the next regular meeting March 16.
The district also intends, next year only, to allow kindergarten-age children who have been homeschooled this year advance to first grade next year, at the request of the parent. The parent would not have to request Whole Grade Advancement, unlike usual.
Kindergarten enrollment has been lower this year than in past years for Wake County and other districts across the state.
