WCPSS to vote on bringing 4th, 5th grade students back to school full-time
More Wake County students could be back in classrooms daily as early as March 15.
On Tuesday at 5:30 p.m., the Wake County Board of Education will meet to vote on plans to bring fourth and fifth graders back to campuses full-time next week.
Currently, fourth and fifth graders are in a three-week cohort rotation, learning both in-person and virtually. In the new plan, they would join kindergarten, first, second and third graders who are already in school daily.
Moore also proposed expanding in-person learning opportunities for middle school and high school students.
Although the decision to move the older students into full-time in-person learning comes from a recommendation by Superintendent Cathy Moore, some board members question if it was a good idea to loosen restrictions after just a few weeks of cases trending downwards.
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.”
The 4:30 p.m. meeting will be available to watch via livetsream on WRAL.com.
