Orange County Schools and Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools held a joint meeting this week with the Orange County Board of Commissioners. Their discussion included mask mandates, mental health support and teacher retention – especially during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Orange County Schools announced this week that it will be lifting the mask mandate in schools 72 hours after the county mandate expires. Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools has yet to release updated guidance on mask mandates following Governor Cooper’s encouragement for all schools and local governments to lift the mandate by March 7.
Chair of the Orange County Board of Commissioners Renee Price attended the joint school board meeting. She said COVID-19 was on the forefront of both county and school district officials’ minds.
“The impact of COVID on our young people,” Price said. “The social, emotional learning. Their mental health. Even that of the teachers and support staff. The learning loss, having to deal with learning with a mask [and] learning virtually. Having been isolated all of that and how we can support our young people.”
District staff for both school districts said a focus is on social and emotional learning (SEL). CHCCS called for three SEL specialists to support students mental health needs.
Even though Price acknowledged mask mandates help mitigate the spread of COVID-19, she said it might come at the expense of student mental health.
“Some young ones, they may have gotten accustomed to it,” Price said. “This whole scenario of having to wear a mask, be outside separated or sit alone during lunch or all those different practices are so unusual. It will play a role in our decision.”
County leaders previously announced they would be meeting in early March with local school systems, UNC Hospitals, UNC and first responders to further assess masking decisions.
While mask mandate updates are happening in the short-term, Price said a long-term issue has been teacher retention.
“To hear the number of teachers that have resigned and or retired – it was jaw dropping,” Price said. “Over 200 people have left in one year. Already this year, when we’re only partway through the school year, over 100 teachers have left.”
Price pointed to non-competitive salaries and taking on extra job responsibilities during COVID-19 as reasons why more teachers have left their positions. She said it’s up to the state government to aid teachers and support staff.
“I think anyone at the local level,” said Price, “at least here, would say to the state legislature, ‘Please allow the lottery money to be used for education. Please distribute that money so that we can have safe, decent learning environments for our children and also provide the right pay for our teachers and other support staff.’”
As with every joint school board and commissioner meeting, county officials will use feedback from the school districts in making future education decisions.
Photo via Orange County Government
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