CMS plan is sensible, but there’s a way to get students back in school sooner

Elyse Dashew’s son, Ian, is a senior at East Mecklenburg High. He’d like to be on campus, experiencing his last year of high school with his friends, but his mother and the rest of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education won’t let him return to in-person classes until at least Jan. 5.

Dashew, the school board chair, knew perhaps as well as anyone that the CMS reopen plan passed this week was going to make people unhappy, regardless of what the board decided. Indeed, when CMS unveiled its phased plan that begins with pre-K students returning Oct. 12, some parents groaned at what they saw as a glacial reopening pace. Others wondered why CMS wanted to infect their children by reopening too quickly.

We believe the district’s reopening plan provides a sensible path through a morass of metrics and uncertainty. The board did a commendable job with a challenge like none it’s faced. Still, questions remain that could offer an opportunity to improve the district’s approach. Like the plan itself, those questions surely will make some unhappy.

First, is a three-week gap between each grade group returning necessary? After pre-K’s October return, K-5 students return Nov. 2 and middle schoolers on Nov. 23. The board believes that staggered approach gives schools time to solve scheduling and staffing issues, and that it allows teachers to plan for their hybrid of remote and in-person classes – all of which might be more complex at higher grade levels.

But teachers in all grade levels already began preparing for a hybrid approach during the summer, and some educators and parents are skeptical high schools need months of extra prep time this fall. At the least, the bumpiness of learning some logistics on the fly seems bearable if it means children are benefiting from in-person classes. The board should revisit whether the return schedule can be compressed without creating chaos.

The next questions parents are asking are more delicate: Some parents, including those in the southern, more affluent wedge of Mecklenburg, are wondering if schools in individual zip codes that meet the district’s COVID thresholds should have to wait for the rest of the county to be ready. Parents in areas that are harder hit by COVID-19, meanwhile, are wondering if their schools should open even if the county as a whole has met reopening thresholds.

Dashew said Mecklenburg health director Gibbie Harris recommended to CMS not to bring students back until the county as a whole has satisfied reopening metrics. No individual zip codes have met the threshold yet, a Harris spokesperson told the Editorial Board this week.

We believe a zip code by zip code approach that would allow some schools to open before the county as a whole is too complex and impractical for the district, and it raises valid equity issues in communities that wouldn’t meet CMS metrics as quickly as others. But should CMS leave all schools closed if the county as a whole is ready but some individual communities are experiencing higher COVID-19 spread? That also is problematic, but parents in those and other communities should be assured they can keep their children home without penalty, even if they chose a hybrid approach this summer.

One thing is certain - CMS officials and the board have developed a thoughtful, deliberate reopening plan that does not compromise their responsibility to safely bring children back to school. They owe teachers that same comfort, including doing a better job of addressing legitimate concerns about inadequate HVAC systems and air flow.

If students can be in school safely, however, that should happen as promptly as possible. We hope the school board addresses questions about the staggered return and continues to explore whether it can improve an already good plan.

This story was originally published September 21, 2020 at 5:00 AM.