From buses to sports and parents opting out, here are details on Charlotte schools reopening

In the coming weeks, school teachers in Charlotte are expected to reunite in-person with students who have been logged on from home since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Under Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ reopening plan, pre-K students will begin returning to classes as early as Oct. 12. Elementary-age and middle school children will follow.

The phased-in approach will take at least 12 weeks to implement.

The school district is following a set of guidelines for bringing employees and students back. The severity of the spread of COVID-19 in Mecklenburg County determines how quickly CMS restarts in-person learning, officials have said.

From children on buses to school safety measures and sports, here are some details about what the next few months in CMS will look like.

When do CMS students return?

The pace and scale of students returning to classrooms hinges on key metrics used by health officials to gauge the spread of the virus locally. CMS is starting its reopening plan under conditions that point to “moderate” COVID-19 spread. It’s called “Plan B.”

School board members have approved reopening classrooms to students as early as Oct. 12. Some students with special needs will return earlier, starting Sept. 29.

Grade levels are divided into four groups or phases. If the spread of COVID-19 doesn’t worsen locally, CMS guidelines call for more students to gradually return every three weeks.

Pre-K students (except for those enrolled in a Montessori program) will return first.

Next, elementary schools will return to in-person class. That could begin as early as Nov. 2.

Unlike pre-K, other grades will rotate students between virtual and physical instruction.

Middle school would start on Nov. 23, while high school students would return Dec. 14 for mandated, in-person end of course testing. Under the current plan, the earliest high school classes would begin is Jan. 5.

Teachers will return to working in-person two weeks before their students return.

How will buses run?

Students who attend in-person classes have been assigned to A, B and C rotations. Part of their instruction time is spent at home, part at school.

Bus routes and schedules work similarly. Each bus will carry a maximum of 24 students, with one student per seat to maximize social distancing during transportation.

Masks or face coverings will be required on the school bus. The district will provide hand sanitizer for students.

Before getting on the bus, students must fill out a form and give it to the bus driver, saying they do not have any symptoms of COVID-19. However, district officials said that students would not be left alone at the stop if they did not have the form.

Can I opt in or out of in-person class?

Before the school year began, CMS leaders created a fully-remote academy for families. At the time, the district was operating under Plan C, the most restrictive K-12 guidelines, in light of COVID-19 concerns. Families who enrolled in the academy wanted to ensure their student would not attend in-person class even if CMS moved to Plan B.

Then, roughly one-third of the district’s students opted out of the potential for reopening classrooms. Those students will not return to in-person learning when their grade-level cohort begins coming back.

However, district officials say families may contact their schools to change their child’s enrollment, if there are extenuating circumstances.

Similarly, if a family wants to now opt-in to the virtual-only academy, they may contact their child’s school.

Requests to change may be made, according to CMS, under the following conditions: a member of the household, including but not limited to the student, received a new medical diagnosis, which puts them in a high risk category; a sudden change in access to childcare; a sudden change in the family’s finances or employment; or a change in school assignment due to a move or approved transfer.

Otherwise, CMS says students may enter and exit the remote-only option at the semester break in December.

How will contact tracing work?

During the pandemic, health officials have used contact tracing to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. When a lab-confirmed case arises, contact tracing can help health workers quickly identify who else may have been exposed and break the chain of infections.

CMS plans to notify the Mecklenburg County Health Department of known COVID-19 cases in schools, officials have said.

Contact tracing would begin by identifying who tested positive, when they were infectious and in the building, and who was around them during that period, chief school performance officer Kathy Elling said recently.

County health officials would then help determine how many people were possibly exposed and potentially recommend some in the school quarantine.

Close contact, according to the CDC, is defined as any individual who was within six feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes. Elling said that while the process of contact tracing is standardized, the response to each positive case would be individualized.

A positive test does not necessarily mean a classroom or school would be shut down, she said.

CMS has not yet said how or if parents or the public will be notified of COVID-19 cases. North Carolina does require schools and day cares to report clusters of the virus, meaning multiple infections believed to be linked from one location.

What safety measures are in place in school?

Students will be screened for symptoms upon arrival into the building. If symptoms develop after a child has been in class, the district says isolation rooms will be available to reduce the spread of germs or the virus.

During the day, students will be grouped to stay together while also social distancing.

That means instead of students moving to different classrooms for special classes like art and music, teachers will rotate while children stay in the same room. CMS leaders say this will reduce students sharing equipment or desks and make contact tracing easier.

Schedules will also include extra time for socially-distanced bathroom and hand-washing breaks.

District leaders are completing walk-through assessment in every school and classroom anticipated to reopen. CMS staff members told board members recently they’re looking to make sure all desks are appropriately spaced, that hallways and common areas are conducive to keeping students six feet apart, and that personal protective equipment is stocked.

What about extracurricular activities?

All schools will begin offering extracurricular activities to students.

Before and after school clubs, like math olympiad and speech and debate, will be available to students remotely and in-person when possible with social distancing, chief academic officer Brian Kingsley said.

Kingsley said the activities would help more closely replicate a regular school environment.

Sports schedules have been adjusted. High school football, for example, will have a shorter season and begin early 2021.

What other questions do you have about CMS reopening plans? You can reach the Charlotte Observer’s education reporter, Annie Ma, at ama@charlotteobserver.com.

This story was originally published September 20, 2020 at 8:00 AM.