CMS board approves return to classrooms but older students will stay home longer

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will begin phasing students back into classrooms for in-person instruction as early as Oct. 12.

The school board met Wednesday night with six members voting in favor and three against the reopening plan. Those who voted against said they believed the plan unnecessarily delays the return for students and teachers.

Getting back in the classroom could be a long way off for older students under CMS’ reopening guidelines. High school students likely will not come back for in-person classes until after the end of the calendar year.

The earliest middle school students would return, according to district officials, is Nov. 23. Students would rotate between classrooms and virtual only. The plan calls for high school students possibly returning to school buildings for testing purposes in mid to late December.

Families who opted into the CMS virtual-only academy in the summer will continue to have the option of staying home.

Superintendent Earnest Winston said he understood the strong push from both sides of the reopen debate, including those who want to return in-person faster and those who think it’s unsafe to bring students, teachers and other employees back. He said that it was important to balance both those needs in a return to in-person learning.

“We know there will be challenges as we move forward, but I’m confident we’re on the right track, because of our principals, our teachers and our families,” Winston said during the nearly four-hour meeting.

“We’re going to ask everyone to exercise grace and patience through this process. I believe we’re united in this work to accomplish our goals together.”

The school board’s decision means local students will be back in classrooms with teachers for the first time since an abrupt closure in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many districts in North Carolina, CMS started its 2020-21 school year under full remote instruction.

The vote Wednesday night comes after weeks of work and debate among an advisory committee charged with establishing data-based guidelines for how and when CMS could resume in-person learning, known as “Plan B.”

CMS plans to use those metrics or “dashboard” which measure the severity of the virus’ spread in Mecklenburg County. The guidelines define three levels: Minimal, moderate and substantial.

Based on the county’s current public health data, CMS’ return to in-person learning would fall under the “moderate” scenario. That means the district will bring only certain students back to the classroom. The district’s plan also prioritizes students most in need of in-person instruction, such as young children and those with special needs.

Moderate spread is defined as a weekly county positivity rate of 5 to 10% and a rate of 10 to 100 new cases per 100,000 residents over a seven day period.

If trends stay about the same, the district will begin phasing in additional grades every three weeks. If trends worsen, CMS leaders would consider shifting to virtual-only instruction. If the spread of COVID-19 is reduced, the district’s plan calls for phasing in more in-person activity.

Also Wednesday, board members unanimously voted to give Winston authority to enact furloughs affecting up to 1,225 employees who would possibly see a reduction in hours. CMS said it did not anticipate any full furloughs, or reducing any staff member’s hours to zero.

The temporary reduction would affect hourly employees whose jobs cannot be done remotely and would not include teachers, officials said. CMS said no furloughs would occur before Sept. 21.

District officials said they have been able to find alternative assignments for many employees, such as staffing the meal delivery program. Board members said the move was necessary due to budget restrictions. Partial furloughs in CMS would allow employees to maintain and add family members to their health insurance plans.

‘I want our kids back in classes’

The move to Plan B will not look like a normal school year. Under CMS’s plan, students will rotate through one week of in-person learning and two weeks of remote instruction, except for those in pre-K who will not be split into cohorts.

Three board members — Sean Strain, Rhonda Cheek and Margaret Marshall, who represent more affluent parts of Mecklenburg County — said they could not support the plan because they believed students needed to be back in-person sooner. Strain said he did not feel the phased approach made sense and that the district should not prolong remote learning.

“The medical and community health has improved markedly since we had these conversations since the middle of July,” he said. “Teaching and learning takes place best in our classrooms.”

Cheek said she believed based on the district’s own guidelines, in-person learning could start as soon as Sept. 21. She said she would have made a substitute motion for an accelerated timeline, but realized she did not have enough support among her fellow board members for such a move.

“This timeline is not what I wanted,” she said, adding that she had supported bringing students back on Oct. 19, the first day of the second quarter. “I want our kids back in classes.”

The district has emphasized bringing back students with the greatest need for in-person instruction, starting with the youngest children. Students will return in four phases, beginning with pre-K students except for those in Montessori programs, before adding in kindergarten through fifth grade, sixth through eighth, and ninth through 12th in each wave.

Teachers will return in-person two weeks before their phase of students come back, starting on Sept. 29 on for pre-K students.

CMS will also begin in-person learning on Sept. 29 for some students with disabilities whose individual learning plans cannot be implemented remotely.

CMS reopening during COVID-19

Chief school performance officer Kathy Elling said that 62.3% of schools in the first phase of reopening have been audited and deemed ready for in-person learning, and that the remaining schools would be ready before any students return.

The district’s plan calls for continuing to monitor operational and school level metrics, such as staffing in critical roles and the number of cases per school.

Board member Carol Sawyer said that whether the reopening plan hinged on the county’s success in driving down coronavirus trends.

“While we are laying out a plan, the continued success of that plan depends on the community metrics, the health of our staff and the health of our students,” Sawyer said. “It will change if conditions change. I hope it won’t… but we will be reviewing these on a regular basis.”

Despite the district’s reassurances, teachers and school-based employees have continued to raise concerns about whether facilities, and in particularl, ventilation systems, are ready for in-person instruction. While the district has invested in upgrading air filtration systems, officials said not all schools could meet recommendations from public health officials for reopening during the pandemic.

Families who enrolled in the district’s full remote academy option will remain in virtual instruction through the rest of the semester. They can opt into following the district’s plan for in-person learning for the second semester.

About 50,000 students selected the remote option, roughly one-third of the district’s total enrollment. Students can change their enrollment in the virtual option if they receive a medical diagnosis that makes them high risk, or who live in a household with someone who receives one.

Families that have had a sudden change in access to childcare, their finances or employment or who transfer or move to a new school can also opt in or out of the full remote option. Those who wish to change their enrollment should contact their school, a district spokeswoman said.

Employees who are approved for remote work due to being high risk for COVID-19 complications can work remotely through the end of the calendar year. The district will offer childcare to school-based employees with children in CMS, providing supervised learning environments where students can learn remotely as their parents work.

This story was originally published September 16, 2020 at 10:05 PM.