CMS reopening metrics climb higher in red zone. 2nd school cluster reported.
A second cluster of coronavirus cases has been reported in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.
The Mecklenburg County Health Department identified the cluster at the Metro School, located in uptown Charlotte, on Dec. 27. The cases — four among staff members and two among students — were reported publicly while the district was on winter break and preparing for virtual-only instruction for much of January.
Since public school buildings were abruptly shut last March due to COVID-19, the majority of students in CMS have been learning remote but a phased reopening began in late September. In that time, one other cluster, at Francis Bradley Middle School, has been reported.
The Metro School serves students with disabilities and had been providing in-person instruction since late September. District officials previously said the close contact that staff need to have with students there, along with the specialized skill set required of teachers, had made it challenging to fill staff shortages when positive cases required people to quarantine.
Earlier, the CMS board gave the superintendent the authority to shift individual schools to remote instruction due to staffing shortages. The decision came after both Metro School and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Academy, which also serves students with disabilities, had to pause all instruction and close for a day when too many employees were quarantined.
When will CMS students return?
CMS students returned from the winter break Tuesday to remote-only instruction. The earliest students may return to the classroom is Jan. 19.
The board voted in early December to pause in-person instruction for most students starting Dec. 14, citing the county’s rising positivity rate from COVID-19 testing and a growing number of infections. Then just before Christmas, the school board decided in a 8-1 vote to include pre-K and students with special needs in the delayed return to classrooms.
Since that vote, two closely watched measures of coronavirus spread have soared in the wrong direction. The number of cases per 100,000 people in a 7-day period has more than doubled since the board voted to pause in-person instruction, up from 220.6 in early December to 480.6 as of Sunday, according to the Mecklenburg Health Department.
The positivity rate — the percentage of Mecklenburg residents who are diagnosed with COVID-19 after taking a test — has also increased from 10.9% to 15.6% over that time period. Both the case rate and percent of positive tests are in the “red” on CMS’ reopening dashboard.
The CMS board will meet again on Jan. 12. Currently, all CMS students are scheduled to return for in-person instruction on Jan. 19. For high school and most middle school students, it would be the first time they have been taught in classrooms since March.
Students enrolled in Plan B, or in-person learning, will be on one of two rotational schedules, depending on their grade level. Students in the full remote academy will stay in virtual learning. Roughly 57,000 students are enrolled in the full remote academy for second semester, slightly up from the 52,000 in the fall.