The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education approved a schedule to move into an in-person learning schedule Thursday night while still offering remote learning to students.
The board’s vote passed unanimously, approving a calendar recommended by district staff to begin some in-person learning for students on April 19, near the start of the academic year’s fourth quarter. The decision concludes a two-month period of consideration to move to Plan B models of instruction amid the coronavirus pandemic, as the board voted to wait for approval in December and January.
The discussion of moving to a hybrid learning model was added to Thursday’s agenda from its scheduled discussion on February 18 following encouragement from state leaders to add in-person learning options earlier this week. North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, state health secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen and state Superintendent Catherine Pruitt cited research and state trends to back their goals of offering opportunities for students to return to classrooms.
CHCCS has been operating in remote learning for nearly all of its students since the coronavirus outbreak reached North Carolina last March.
Under the district’s hybrid learning plan, cohorts of CHCCS students would have the option to attend in-person instruction on Mondays and Tuesdays or Thursdays and Fridays, with Wednesdays used for cleaning each district building. Students not attending school during one of those two stretches of days, or who choose to not have any in-person instruction, would receive their instruction remotely.
As approved by the board, notices to families to confirm their assignments to either in-person cohorts or fully remote options will be sent by February 26. From there, families will have ten days to request a different learning option based upon “health or family hardships.”
The calendar implementing the hybrid schedule maintains the planned spring break for students, while also continuing remote learning for the following week. All staff will return to campuses the week of April 12, with teacher workdays from April 14 through April 16. Beginning April 19, pre-K through 2nd grades cohorts will return to campuses for two-day stretches of in-person learning. 6th grade and 9th grade students will also return to campus that week for brief orientations. The following week, the remaining participating elementary school, middle school and high school students will return in their cohorts.
District staff said when students return to campuses, there will be an intentional focus on providing social and emotional support while establishing new procedures and protocols for the hybrid learning environment.
Board member Joal Broun voiced her support of this element, using a comment period ahead of the vote to share thoughts on how the CHCCS community will likely need time to adjust to various required protocols.
“I think the community has to understand,” said Broun, “when we go in-person, it’s not going to be as it was before March 2020 because of the pandemic.”
During its final January meeting, the board approved an official set of health and safety considerations to reference when determining whether to expedite a hybrid learning model or remain in a remote learning model. The COVID-19 trends include two-week case rates for Orange County per 100,000 residents, test positivity rate for Orange County, district staff absence rate, district substitute availability and percentage of faculty and staff who have requested to receive COVID-19 vaccines.
According to a report from district staff, with most stats updated as of Wednesday, two of the metrics failed the benchmarks set by the board. The rolling average of new cases every two weeks in Orange County per 100,000 residents is close to 500, surpassing the federal designation of “high risk.” The other metric was vaccine availability for teachers and staff, since North Carolina remains in Phase 2 of COVID-19 vaccination distribution which covers residents 65 and older. All other metrics listed fell into benchmarks deemed safe.
Ahead of the vote to approve, chair of the board Jillian La Serna made a point to emphasize regular monitoring and measuring safety based on these trends will continue even into the hybrid learning plan.
“Part of that motion is continuing positive metrics,” she said, “and that administration and the board will be constantly looking at those to make sure they’re headed in the right direction. I appreciate that.”
An additional element unanimously approved by the board gave Superintendent Dr. Nyah Hamlett the power to enter into contracts worth an estimated $1.3 million to purchase safety equipment including personal protective equipment, air filters for campus buildings and other necessary materials to safely reopen the schools.
The board will begin meeting in-person during this period of in-person learning in the fourth quarter as well, with public attendance and comment continuing to be virtual.
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education is set to hold a meeting next Thursday, February 11, to review applicants for filling a vacant seat. A district administration meeting with school principals is slated to be held on Friday.
Photo via the Town of Chapel Hill.
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