CMS board to consider more in-person days for middle, high school students
In the final months of the school year, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools students could be back in classrooms at least four days a week, pending a board decision.
On Friday, district officials announced that CMS Superintendent Earnest Winston will recommend looser COVID-19 restrictions on middle and high school students. Winston is expected to present at Tuesday’s board meeting a recommendation to move older students to Plan A, which includes in-person instruction with minimal social distancing.
In an earlier decision, the board unanimously agreed to the four-day in-person schedule under Plan A for elementary students, which is expected to start Monday. Under the current reopening plan, most middle schoolers and students in high school are rotating in classrooms two days per week. Wednesdays are remote-only learning at CMS.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance for schools Friday, and now recommends with universal masking, “students should maintain a distance of at least three feet in classroom settings” — paving the way for students to return to classrooms nationwide.
Previous guidelines suggested maximum social distancing of at least six feet.
And last week, Gov. Roy Cooper mandated that North Carolina schools offer in-person learning to every student this school year. The new legislation also says that remote instruction should continue to be offered to students who would prefer to remain learning remotely.
A statement posted to the district’s Facebook page reads that the superintendent’s recommendation will likely mirror the current Plan A for elementary schools, allowing “students whose families opt for them to receive in-person instruction assigned to one group that attends in-person four days each week.”
The announcement spurred reactions on social media Friday afternoon, echoing some parents’ and teachers’ previous concerns of bringing students into classrooms too soon. At the last CMS board meeting, faculty as well as parents spoke out both in support of and against the district’s previous decisions to expand in-person learning schedules.
This story was originally published March 19, 2021 at 3:29 PM.
