LEDGER — Mitchell County Schools for grades 6-12 will move into North Carolina’s Plan A school reopening plan, full in-person learning, starting Monday, April 12.
The Mitchell County Board of Education during its regular meeting Thursday, March 11 unanimously approved the decision to move to Plan A after Superintendent Chad Calhoun recommended the move.
The local move comes shortly after the North Carolina Senate unanimously approved a bipartisan bill to reopen K-12 public schools hours after North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and the General Assembly announced the bill.
Under the bill, all elementary schools in North Carolina are required to move to Plan A while middle and high schools have the option of being in Plan A or Plan B, which is a hybrid blend of in-person and remote learning.
Mitchell County’s grade 6-12 schools had already been operating under Plan B.
In Plan A, students and staff are still required to wear face coverings and all staff will be given the opportunity to receive the COVID vaccine before the beginning of Plan A learning. Social distancing outside of the classroom is still enforced but is relaxed within classrooms.
All students will still have the option of remaining on virtual learning.
“This is a health issue, not an educational issue,” Calhoun said.
All students and staff will still be screened upon entering school buildings and Calhoun said schools will explore options to allow for the maximum amount of distancing in classrooms, such as utilizing larger rooms like school libraries for larger classes.
Calhoun pointed out that there has been no COVID spread within Mitchell County Schools. This school year, 676 staff or students have been placed in quarantine but the positive rate from that group is just 3 percent.
“That sounds like a lot but 97 percent that have been in quarantine have not been positive and we’re very proud of that,” he said. “Up to this point, we’ve not had any confirmed school spread. That is a miracle and a testament to how hard our staff works.”
Calhoun pointed out that the move to Plan A locally is “not a major move” because many students at the three 6-12 schools (Mitchell High, Harris Middle and Bowman Middle) are already attending school five days per week in-person as part of Plan B.
At Mitchell High, current enrollment is 464 students with 68 on virtual learning and 218 attending five days per week in-person. Under Plan A, only 105 additional students would be added to the building.
That number is even lower for Harris and Bowman. At Harris, enrollment is 274 with 24 on virtual and 37 in-person. Plan A would usher in an additional 43 students to the building.
Bowman has an enrollment of 209 with 17 on virtual and nine in-person and Plan A would add 43 to the school building.
In total, Plan A would add 191 students to the three school buildings.
“My biggest worry is the perception,” Calhoun said. “We’re only taking 191 kids and splitting them up in three schools. We just put 300 people in the gym last week to watch the playoff basketball game and no one said anything about that. We’ll have 1,500 people at our football stadium tomorrow night.
“You have to put it in perspective. We freed up basketball and we freed up football, it’s time to free up education and bring our kids back.”
Calhoun pointed out that retaining the option for virtual learning is a key aspect of the move.
“We’re not taking that away,” Calhoun said. “Parents are still making the choice: do I send my kid back or keep them virtual?”
Calhoun said virtual learning could potentially remain an option beyond this school year.
MCS Executive Director of Transportation Mark Hughes said he doesn’t foresee any major issues with transportation when Plan A begins, adding that some busses may be split up if they have higher numbers of riders.
MCS will begin Plan A right after spring break. Calhoun said the school system will try out the plan for two weeks and see how it goes.
“It doesn’t mean we’re stuck with that,” he said. “If things flare up, we can go back out and go to Plan B if we need to.”
As part of the move to Plan A, MCS will submit all of the necessary paperwork to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and agree to cooperate with the reporting of case numbers and other COVID-related details to local and state agencies.
Calhoun also hinted that local and outside field trips and activities could return soon and added that events like prom and graduation could still happen, as long as they’re held outside.
“If things go well for those two weeks, at the next board meeting I’d recommend you bring those back,” he said.
Calhoun said he continues to receive guidance from the Toe River Health District and added he is happy to see the system move into Plan A.
“These kids need to be back in school,” Calhoun said. “For the social aspect, they need to get back together and do some things.”