The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education will be holding a virtual meeting tonight to discuss the district’s potential move into a hybrid learning model.
Back in December, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools (CHCCS) Board of Education discussed moving into a Plan B model of hybrid learning for the spring semester, ultimately voting to push back adopting the model due to current COVID-19 trends.
CHCCS leaders said COVID-19 metrics were still too concerning for in-person instruction and voted to maintain its online learning model through at least February.
Now, at their meeting Tuesday night, the school board will once again discuss moving into an in-person learning model. In the CHCCS agenda, 15 minutes are slotted for this discussion.
Newly appointed CHCCS Superintendent Dr. Nyah Hamlett said these discussions on returning to a more in-person learning model require careful deliberation.
“Any superintendent in their right mind right now is thinking about the benefits and also the potential risks of having our student athletes and our students in person and gathered together,” Hamlett said. “Our highest priority is to make sure that our students and staff are safe.”
Hamlett is helping CHCCS decide on a timeline for which students and staff will return to classrooms for in-person instruction. The school board initially planned to return to Plan B, a hybrid model of in-person and remote learning, sometime within this academic year.
The district’s fall semester began with nine initial weeks of remote learning to gauge COVID-19 metrics and spread. However, as trends worsened through the late fall amid holiday celebrations, the school board decided to continue remote learning and aim for a move to Plan B to start the spring semester.
“For us, what’s really important is transparent communication along the way as decisions are being made as we are informed of positive cases,” Hamlett said. “As a parent myself, I recognize how important it is to know that our students will return to in-person learning as quickly and as safely as possible.”
After last month’s deliberations, the school board expects to reopen under Plan B in-person and remote learning in March, a year after moving to online learning. The plan would bring elementary students back on March 1, middle school students back on March 8 and high school students back on March 15.
Despite these plans, Hamlett said all timelines are conditional as the county continues to track COVID-19 cases. As of January 19, Orange County has reported more than 6,100 COVID-19 cases with 219 reported in the last seven days.
“I’m really committed to making conditions-based decisions, not time-based,” Hamlett said. “So, for example, I don’t ever want to put out a timeline to say we will return by March 1 because that kind of gives a false sense of hope not knowing what the conditions will be at that time.”
Administrators anticipate needing about five weeks to get staff, students and families ready for in-person instruction if and when a return date is set. The school board will meet tonight to review COVID-19 trends and consider whether to delay the return of students by another month.
Click here to find out how to join the livestream meeting or how to submit a public comment.
Read more about CHCCS’ Plan B learning model here.
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