Coronavirus shutters NC schools for the academic year, but virtual learning continues
Updated April 25
North Carolina’s public schools will remain closed for the rest of the school year as part of an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
Gov. Roy Cooper announced Friday that he’s extending his order that had previously kept schools closed through May 15. Cooper said the decision to not reopen was made after consulting with health experts.
“This decision is not made lightly,” Cooper said at a news conference Friday. “This decision is made with the high hopes that we could go in and finish the school year like any regular school year.
“But this virus tells us that cannot be, and I know parents want us to keep the health and safety of their children as the No. 1 priority.”
North Carolina is among 43 states, four U.S. territories and the District of Columbia that have ordered or recommended that school buildings be closed for the rest of the academic year, according to Education Week. The closures are affecting around 45.1 million students..
Cooper’s announcement comes one day after he extended the state’s stay-at-home order through May 8, and announced his plan to gradually reopen the state. Some Triangle counties, including Durham and Orange, have already extended their local stay-at-home orders.
Cooper’s education order doesn’t apply to private and parochial schools. But many have also closed during the pandemic and switched to remote learning.
“I know most all are working very hard so there is proper social distancing and hygiene, and we hope they are following guidelines that have been provided by our Department of Health and Human Services,” Cooper said.
Students will learn remotely
Cooper’s announcement means that North Carolina’s 1.5 million public school students will finish the school year taking classes virtually. Schools set up remote learning programs after Cooper first ordered school buildings be closed on March 14.
“Classrooms may be closed, but the learning is not over,” Cooper said.
The State Board of Education on Thursday adopted a statewide grading policy in which only high school students will have the option of getting traditional grades this semester. Elementary school students won’t get grades, and middle school students will only get grades saying whether they passed or withdrew from a class.
This school year for most students is scheduled to end around June 11.
A few hours before Cooper was set to make his announcement, state Superintendent Mark Johnson met with the rest of the COVID-19 Task Force. Johnson said it has been a challenging time for schools and parents.
“I am excited that today we will be able to start a more proactive approach to what is going on in our schools, as opposed to what we’ve been forced to do for the past month, which is understandably reactive,” Johnson said.
Johnson noted that Teacher Appreciation Day falls on May 5 this year.
“That is Cinco de Mayo. There is a certain type of case of Corona that the grocery stores are happy to stock, and I am sure every teacher in this state would be happy to get a case of that from parents across the state,” Johnson said.
No sports when schools reopen?
It’s unclear when public schools will reopen. School officials have said that it would be extremely difficult to keep people six feet apart riding school buses, in classrooms and cafeterias, and while changing classes.
Cooper and DHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen said plans are being drawn up for changes that will be made when students return to campus. He said some of these measures will require new state funding, such as hiring more school nurses to check on the health of students.
“There has been a lot of hard work and planning going into how we provide hygiene and cleaning, how we space students with social distancing, how we may stagger things,” Cooper said. “Depending on how things are and what our indicators look like, we may not be doing sports or common areas.
“It depends on what our data shows us and what our health experts say. The idea is to create a safe environment using all of the tools that we’re putting together, between now and then.”
Most schools are scheduled to reopen in late August, although a number of year-round schools are supposed to begin the next school year in early July.
A draft bill backed by a state House committee calls for temporarily waiving the school calendar law to allow traditional-calendar schools to begin as early as Aug. 17.
The bill also includes provisions such as temporarily waiving requirements that public schools, private schools and homeschools give standardized tests to students this school year.
Helping at-risk students
A major concern is how the closure of school buildings will impact the education of students who’ve been unable to keep up with their learning since mid-March.
The bill supported by the House committee calls for creating a statewide “jump start” program in early August to help at-risk students. The State Board of Education wants lawmakers to provide $70 million for that program.
Another pressing concern is how schools will be able to pay employees as the nation potentially moves into a recession. Many hourly school employees, such as bus drivers, cafeteria workers and custodians, are having a hard time getting in enough hours to be paid during the closures.
State Board of Education chairman Eric Davis urged school districts to continue to find ways to pay hourly employees, many of whom are involved in efforts to feed students while schools are closed.
“We need their talents to continue our emergency efforts,” Davis said.
On Friday, DPI cited Cooper’s decision to close schools in announcing it was canceling a controversial, three-year, $8.3 million contract with Istation. The contract had been approved in June 2019 to use the computer-based program to test the reading skills of K-3 students.
Amplify Education, which had previously held the contract, sued and the case was being reviewed by the state Department of Information Technology. DPI said it “will immediately begin a new process to procure one uniform reading diagnostic tool before the start of the 2020-21 school year.”
Friday’s termination doesn’t affect a three-month emergency $243,310 contract with Istation that was approved in April and runs through June 30.
The North Carolina Association of Educators celebrated Cooper’s decision, and his request for cable and internet provides to not disconnect subscribers.
“NCAE applauds the Governor’s continued leadership on issues of health, safety, and access to education during this challenging time, and we look forward to working with the governor and other state lawmakers to continue to react to this pandemic in as caring and humane a manner as possible,” said Mark Jewell, president of NCAE, in a statement Friday.
The governor’s decision was supported by teachers who also expressed sadness about not being able to see their students again face-to-face this school year.
“I knew it was coming, and it’s 100% the right choice ... but it didn’t stop me from crying,” tweeted Tori McGee, an English teacher at Apex Friendship High School. “I would have hugged all 85 of my sweethearts on 3/13 had I known (Corona be darned ...). This is so hard, y’all.”
This story was originally published April 24, 2020 at 2:05 PM with the headline "Coronavirus shutters NC schools for the academic year, but virtual learning continues."
