Are CMS students in-person next week? What to know and how to watch today’s meeting
UPDATE: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools students will stay in remote learning through at least Feb. 12, the board voted in an emergency meeting Thursday. For more details, read the latest story here.
From earlier:
The public can tune into a virtual Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools emergency board meeting today to find out what the county’s new COVID-19 health directive means for local classrooms.
After Mecklenburg Public Health Director Gibbie Harris released a directive Tuesday afternoon — saying schools and businesses need to replace in-person operations with virtual options — the board of education called the emergency meeting for Thursday morning to rethink the district’s planned return to in-person learning.
The board meeting began virtually on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. The public can watch the meeting and an expected board vote via a stream on the CMS board’s Facebook page.
Since Dec. 14, all students have been in remote-only classrooms. High school students have yet to return for in-person instruction since public schools were forced to abruptly shut down at the beginning of the pandemic. In the fall, CMS first returned to classroom students with special needs and later brought back pre-K and elementary students. A portion of middle schoolers (those enrolled in schools K-8) began limited in-person learning the first week of December.
Additionally, about 40% of the district’s student population is currently enrolled in remote-only academy, meaning the board’s pending reopening decision will not affect their status.
The district originally planned to bring students of all ages back to classrooms on a rotational basis starting Jan. 19. The Observer previously reported that the plans are guided by the severity of community spread of the virus, as well as the district’s confidence that there are enough teachers and staff to safely run classrooms.
On Monday, the health director was on board with schools teaching the same amount of students they had in December and said the CMS board would have the final say on reopening schools.
But only one day later, at Tuesday’s Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners meeting, Harris announced a new public health directive and gave her most definite school reopening deterrent yet: “Our recommendation is that it doesn’t make sense to bring kids back to schools.”
Earlier the same day, the Charlotte Observer reported a post-Christmas surge in Mecklenburg’s COVID-19 cases, and Harris said hospitalizations for infected patients have increased 543% since September. Mecklenburg has seen more than 73,000 cases of coronavirus locally since mid-March, according to the state health department.
Harris’ directive, which advises residents instead of mandates, urged a “full virtual” approach to operations wherever in-person activity is not required.
Multiple businesses, private schools, and colleges abruptly reverted to remote learning after the directive was announced, including Central Piedmont Community College, Charlotte Country Day and Charlotte Latin School.
Annie Ma contributed.
This story was originally published January 14, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
