The first day of school for children in the North Carolina public school system has been set as August 17, about six weeks away.
Other than that not much is known about how the school year will be handled. Gov. Roy Cooper, who is making all the decisions for the state under his Emergency Management Act powers, was supposed to announce on July 1 what the plan was for the state, but he didn’t and he set no deadline for himself on when he would make the decision.
When asked what Guilford County Schools was going to do, Guilford County Board of Education member Anita Sharpe said, “I don’t know.”
Sharpe said that three plans had been presented. Basically plan A would be a full reopening, plan B would be a combination of in-school classes and virtual classes, and plan C would be all virtual classes.
Sharpe said that there was a committee of 100 people appointed by Guilford County School Superintendent Sharon Contreras working on plans for all three contingencies.
Sharpe said, “I get no input.”
She added, “I don’t know if we’ll get to vote on it.”
One of the issues is that there are so many possible variations of a partial reopening and the schools, with six weeks left before the first day, are supposed to be able to implement whatever Cooper decides.
Republican candidate for North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt presented her plan for reopening schools on Tuesday, June 30 – the day before Cooper was supposed to announce his plan.
Truitt’s plan would let Cooper off the hook, because from a political standpoint it is a lose-lose proposition for Cooper. Polls show that close to one-third of the people in the state favor plan A, one third favor B and one third favor C. So if Cooper picks any of the three, two thirds of the state is going to think he made the wrong choice.
Truitt’s plan is to let the individual school districts decide what will work best in their school districts.
Truitt said, “North Carolina is a large, diverse state, and one size simply does not fit all. Local school board members and superintendents know the needs and challenges facing their communities far better than someone sitting inside the Raleigh beltway. It is imperative that we allow local leaders to make local decisions, that parents be engaged in the process, and that our re-opening plan give students the hope they need to succeed.”
Counties can already decide for something more restrictive than what the state determines. And, judging by Cooper’s reluctance to actually do what is necessary – though difficult for many – to stop the spread of coronavirus, I’d bet my house it’s going to be plan A or plan B. If the GOP is all antsy-in-their-pantsies about it, they should just push for remote only as it is clear schools will be allowed to implement that. They can also send their kids to private or charter schools which won’t be under the same strict control as public schools.
Many counties and school districts have already developed plans. Certainly they aren’t official until more concrete decisions are made but Alamance is doing a plan B, I believe alternating weeks with students. I believe Guilford is planning on a similar structure – but perhaps your only source in this article hasn’t paid close attention or talked to any teachers in the district.
I’m surprised the Rhino ran this story, I thought they were much more concerned about getting bars and amusement parks open and protesting their freedom to worship war losers. Oh wait, read the article again – thinly veiled opportunity to criticize the governor. I get it now. My bad.
Right on! It definitely isn’t about “news” with this publication.
I know of at least 1 restaurant/bar that is operating as a bar…. staying open til 2, karaoke, sitting at the bar with no social distancing and no masks
You are an ass. Typical of the sheep. Cooper just hates to make a decision where he can not control everyone. Guess he does not care about those poor black kiddies who NEED school, its food, its free counseling, and free school materials provided by teachers at their expense.
You got that right
Ms. Truitt’s plan is extremely radical and bold. It goes against the current norms and is a step backwards.
Why do I say this? Because Ms. Truitt proposes to give control of schools BACK TO THE LOCAL LEVEL!!!
Oh my stars, clutch my pearls, fan my face and get me something for the vapors. This…WOMAN… wants to throw us back to a time where the PEOPLE decided how schools should run. Is she crazy? Doesn’t she realize that the Almighty State, run by Emperor Cooper and the All Knowing Federal Government Leftists know better then us ignorant peons how to indoctr…I mean educate our children? After all, we can’t even wipe our bottoms without guidance from Emperor Cooper and his flying monkeys in the Peoples Republic of Raleigh.
I will not send my kids to school with this mess it is not safe!
(Pass the) Buck Cooper rides again….
I guess you need A death in the family before you get it
I just think it’s all ridiculous!! I mean really why is it so hard to just say do remote learning till we see the numbers go down with the virus;cause we all know that’s all our state officials are worried about anyway! Everything is about a number. What our kids test scores are numbers how many cases of the virus we have active in each county numbers! We as parents should have should have say In anything when it involves our kids. In Rutherford County they didn’t make it public about them voting for our schools to start going year round which is a bunch a of crap;a few people showed up that had caught wind about it but for the rest of the county we got no say so about it and they voted it in back in February. So starting in the 2021 school year our kids will start going to school year round which is senseless! Our government not our school board’s really don’t care what we have to say and they really don’t care about our kids. Like I said before all they all care about are the numbers and how much more they can put on our kids and continue to push them till they break or we do! It’s time for a CHANGE in our STATE HOUSE AND IN OUR COUNTY OFFICES!
Is there any travel restrictions for a few weeks before school starts? If not maybe there should be, I know of a few people (not me) who are planning on going to Florida the week before school starts.