Cooper delays NC school reopening decision while poll shows public divided over plans
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said Wednesday a decision on school reopening will come in “the next couple of weeks,” while a new poll shows the public is divided on how to reopen schools this fall amid the coronavirus pandemic.
None of the options of returning to school full time, keeping students at home for online instruction or using a mix of both options drew majority support in the Elon University poll done in partnership with The News & Observer, Charlotte Observer and Herald-Sun.
The poll comes amid uncertainty about what will happen after Cooper said Wednesday he was not, as previously planned, ready to issue a statewide school reopening directive. Cooper said state and school officials need to do more planning and work to get buy-in from groups like teachers on reopening.
“I think it’s important for us to get buy-in, as much buy-in as we possibly can across the board before we announce a decision,” Cooper said at a news briefing. “There’s going to have to be a lot of local decisions made because school districts are different.
“But we believed we needed a little more time to make sure we get this plan right because education, I think, is the most important function of state government.”
Cooper said that schools that begin in July, mainly year-round schools, should start with remote learning until a decision is made on in-person instruction. He said his “number one priority” is to still physically get students back in school in August if conditions are safe enough to reopen.
People unsure what reopening plan to use
The option of sending students back part-time drew the most support in the Elon poll at 38%, followed by 34% for returning full time and 29% for staying at home for school. The poll of 1,410 North Carolina adults was conducted June 24-25 and has a credibility interval of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.
Jason Husser, director of the Elon University poll, said it’s rare to see such a split in the poll results.
“It’s a testament to how complex and difficult and uncertain the decision will be,” Husser said in an interview Wednesday with The N&O. “The story of COVID-19 has been a story of uncertainty.
“We have so many moving targets about benchmarks. Those moving targets are on people’s minds, so people really don’t know how to reopen.”
Husser said more poll results will be released Thursday on areas such as the economy, healthcare, COVID-19 and how North Carolinians feel political leaders are handling the pandemic.
All North Carolina public schools have been closed since mid-March under Cooper’s executive order to try to slow the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
Schools are developing three plans for the start of the fall semester: minimal social distancing, moderate social distancing or remote learning only. Cooper will decide which plan schools can use, although they can choose to use a more restrictive option.
Under Plan A, schools would reopen at full capacity but with steps such as daily temperature and screening checks of students and staff before they can enter the building. School employees and middle school and high school students would be required to wear face coverings as a result of an executive order Cooper issued last week.
Under Plan B, schools would operate at no more than 50% capacity. Options being considered include having students rotate in and out on a weekly or a daily basis or having some students go to class daily while others would only receive instruction online.
Under Plan C, schools would continue with remote instruction until conditions improve to allow students back on campus.
Husser said the subgroup results on the poll were fairly consistent, with parents and non-parents holding similar views. One difference though was along partisan lines.
Partisan split on school reopening
Forty-six percent of Republicans said they’d support students returning full-time (Plan A), compared to only 23% of Democrats. Of the remaining Republicans, 33% said they’d support part-time school (Plan B) and 21% would back online instruction only (Plan C).
“Republicans themselves were divided,” Husser said. “That still meant more than 50% wanted something other than full-time school.”
But Husser said the support for Plan A among Republicans is high enough that if Cooper goes with a different option and that hurts the economy, it could help Lt. Dan Forest’s campaign. Forest, a Republican, is running against Cooper this fall and has criticized the governor’s reopening strategy.
Forest tweeted Wednesday that Cooper should have announced that he’s “reopening our schools completely.”
Republican Senate leaders said Tuesday that Cooper should have students return to school Aug. 17. They’re citing the guidance given by the American Academy of Pediatrics that “strongly advocates that all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in school.”
The Elon poll mirrors surveys that the Wake County school system has done of parents and employees.
Forty-three percent of Wake school employees said they’d prefer using a hybrid model this fall, followed by 29% for online only and 28% for full-time school. Full-time school and part-time school were tied at 35% each as the preferred choices for Wake parents with 22% wanting online only.
Wake, like many other districts in the state, has said it will offer an online program for students who don’t feel comfortable with returning until a vaccine is developed.
Public wants to know what Cooper will do
North Carolina has 1.5 million public school students. Husser said people eagerly want to know what Cooper decides on school reopening because it will impact so many areas, including parents who have to juggle childcare with work responsibilities.
“This uncertainty we detected in the survey results will remain that way until the governor announces a decision,” Husser said. “ A lot of businesses are waiting for a decision because that will affect their ability to have a full work force.”
The governor’s delay is also causing angst among school leaders trying to come up with plans. The Wake County school board had moved its meeting on reopening plans from Tuesday to Thursday in anticipation of Cooper’s announcement.
“Re-opening plans depend upon which scenario the Governor will allow: full, partial, or remote only,” Wake school board member Chris Heagarty tweeted Wednesday. “Each scenario has challenges that limit what we can offer locally. Not sure how this will affect our meeting tomorrow to hear staff recommendations.”
Cooper was defended Wednesday by the N.C. Association of Educators, which said “it is far more important to get this decision right than to get it done quickly.”
“How to re-open North Carolina school buildings, bus garages, and administrative offices is a critical decision, and we are incredibly thankful for Governor Cooper’s thoughtful and thorough approach,” new NCAE president Tamika Walker Kelly said in a press release. “COVID information is changing on a daily basis, and the health and safety of all of our state’s educators, students, and their families is at stake.”
This story was originally published July 1, 2020 at 11:00 AM with the headline "Cooper delays NC school reopening decision while poll shows public divided over plans."
