CMS ‘ready’ to return next week. Here’s what to know before tonight’s meeting.

Updated: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will stick with its plans and have students return to the classroom in rotations beginning Monday. See details here.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools leaders say they are confident in a plan to return to in-person instruction next week, but the final decision will be made by board members who are scheduled to meet Tuesday night.

Under the current plan, starting Feb. 15 , pre-K, elementary, a small fraction of middle school students and some students with special needs will rotate days in classrooms with virtual learning continuing other days. Middle and high school students begin rotations Feb. 22.

On Friday, Superintendent Earnest Winston said CMS staff and buildings are ready.

“We’re confident that we are ready and will be prepared next week,” Winston said.

Also last week, Gov. Roy Cooper urged school districts to begin offering in-person learning. That came as Republicans in the legislature filed a bill that would require school districts to give students the option of in-person learning.

“Students should still have the option of remote learning this school year if that is best for them,” Cooper said. “And teachers who are at risk should be providing that remote instruction. But students who are ready to return to the classrooms should have that chance.”

The CMS board meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, and will be streamed live on the board’s Facebook page.

CMS sports already allowed

All students in CMS have been in remote learning since mid-December, when rising cases and a spiking positivity rate prompted the district to suspend in-person learning. For most middle schoolers and high schoolers, they’ve had virtual-only class since March, when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down school buildings across the country.

In January, as the district planned to start in-person learning again, Mecklenburg County Public Health Director Gibbie Harris issued a directive urging schools and businesses to stay remote.

CMS responded to the directive by extending the remote learning period to Feb. 15. But in a move that contradicted guidance from Centers for Disease Control officials and local public health leaders, the district allowed sports and other in-person extracurriculars to resume earlier this month.

District leaders defended that decision, saying students were expected to adhere to strict safety measures. They also said the social and emotional benefits of extracurriculars were essential to students, many of whom have been isolated from their peers throughout the pandemic.

Few school COVID clusters

Two closely watched measures of community spread remain in the district’s self-designated “red” zone, but have come down significantly from when Harris’s directive was issued. The health director later extended her directive to Feb. 28 but removed language about schools needing to hold “full virtual” class, the Observer reported in late January.

The test positivity rate in Mecklenburg remains just above 10%, as of Monday. The number of cases per 100,000 people over a 7-day period is at 368, down from 569 when the board voted in January to further postpone in-person class.

Public health officials have identified at least five clusters in CMS since in-person learning began. Two were among basketball teams at North Mecklenburg High School and Butler High School, while another at an Lake Wylie involved five staff members. Two others involving students and staff were reported at Metro School and Bradley Middle School.

This story was originally published February 9, 2021 at 8:44 AM.