CMS hit hard with staff, student absences as omicron delivers case spike
With a high number of employees not working due to COVID-19 quarantines — and what appears to be the highest number of active cases reported by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools — district officials say the latest surge, caused by the Omicron variant, has disrupted classrooms and strained staff.
According to data released Monday by CMS, nearly 2,000 students and 689 staff in the week of Jan. 3 to 9 were not in school due to quarantine measures.
In addition, CMS reported positive coronavirus test results among 1,249 students and 615 staff. That’s an increase of 157 cases from the week prior (when the district was on holiday break). Based on data from 2020 and 2021, it appears to be the worst yet that local public schools have been hit with so many cases in a short period of time and employee absences due to quarantine.
Because the new strain of the virus is more contagious, cases are surging nationally. But with many children and teens having protection from vaccines and illness from Omicron appearing to be less severe, many health leaders say schools should add safeguards but keep doors open.
Quarantine, under North Carolina rules for in-person learning, is generally required for five days for unvaccinated or unboostered (where eligible) children and adults, if they had close contact with someone with COVID. Anyone who tests positive for COVID is also made to quarantine for at least five days and can return to school, wearing a mask, if they have no symptoms.
District officials and teachers say the surge in cases is causing a lot of problems in the classroom.
“I have had to take on additional duties because of absent teachers,” a CMS high school teacher told the Observer on Monday. He spoke on the condition of anonymity, saying he fears retribution from the district for speaking to a news reporter.
“We are asked to cover classes pretty much everyday. With so many out they are now mostly dispersing students to other classrooms. So in a class of 25, I would have an additional 10 students who are not mine in the room, bringing my total to 35 students.
“This creates a lot of problems, discipline being a major one.”
Last Friday, the district’s communications team reported 1,029 teacher absences requiring substitutes. CMS was able to fill 400 of those spots, with Central office and learning community staff stepping in to provide support at multiple schools.
“This is not unique to CMS, almost every district here and throughout the country had a staffing shortage before the Omicron surge,” said Patrick Smith, the CMS assistant superintendent of communications. “We’ve had vacancies across departments since before school started, and have been short of substitutes the whole year.”
Workers in cafeterias, on CMS’ School Nutrition teams, had 145 permanent employee absences last Friday, which is 16% of the total permanent staff of 907. Twenty-five temporary staff did not report to work, for approximately 19% absent out of 116 total. School Nutrition staff covered absences, and food service continued uninterrupted, district leaders said.
Similarly, CMS school bus routes were short-staffed but district officials say most buses ran on a 15 to 20 minute delay.
“The week following winter break has coincided with the recent surge of COVID-19 and presented challenges,” Vicki Grooms, of communications, wrote to school board members. “Our dedicated staff pulled together to keep schools open and students learning in person with their peers. We will continue to monitor and assess our operations.”
Cases in schools
Around half of all CMS schools had 10 or fewer total cases reported last week. Just five reported 40 or more over the last week among students and staff: South Mecklenburg High, Rocky River High, Mallard Creek High, Community House Middle and Rea Farms STEAM Academy.
East Mecklenburg High had, by far, the highest number of people affected by quarantines, with 107 students and four employees quarantined, CMS data shows.
Just two schools reported clusters, which is similar to a suspected outbreak, meaning five or more people testing positive in a two-week period and transmission of the virus in their school is strongly suspected. CMS reports clusters, as of Monday, at Palisades Park Elementary and Garinger High.
This story was originally published January 10, 2022 at 1:32 PM.
