LEDGER — In a news conference on Tuesday, July 14, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper announced the state will reopen schools under Plan B, which includes a mix of in-person and online education.
In a letter posted to its Facebook page the same day as the governor’s announcement, Mitchell County Schools highlighted the importance of the safety of students and staff and asked for patience from the community.
“We understand the needs of families in our communities and ask that you be patient with us as we continue to refine our plan during the next few weeks and communicate it to you,” the letter said. “We know that you have been anxious about this decision and you still have many questions.”
In the letter, the school system noted there would be a stark difference between the remote learning that occurred at the end of the 2019-20 school year and the remote learning that will take place during the 2020-21 academic year.
“There will be guidelines that students and parents must adhere to in order to participate in virtual learning offered through Mitchell County Schools,” the letter said.
The school system sent out an application for parents and students to apply for the virtual program on Friday, July 17 with a deadline of Thursday, July 30.
Some of the guidelines in the application include affirming regular communication with teachers, having reliable internet access and ensuring a safe environment to participate in online instruction.
Because Plan B limits a school’s capacity to 50 percent, Mitchell County Schools Superintendent Chad Calhoun said he is hoping enough students will opt for online learning.
At the regular meeting of the Board of Education on Thursday, July 16, Calhoun said they hope to avoid alternating days for in-person instruction, where some
students would attend school on Mondays and Wednesdays and others on Tuesday and Thursdays.
“We would like for that to be all five days a week,” Calhoun said. “There might be some problems we need to look at depending on numbers, but we’re hoping to finalize that in the near future.”
When it comes to students attending in-person instruction, Calhoun said one of the biggest anxieties are the buses.
“Bus count is still a huge concern for me because, by this order, we can only put one child per seat unless they’re a family member,” Calhoun said. “That’s better than the original plan which would have each student six-feet apart. With that, we could only get eight or nine kids on a bus. With this, we can get 17 students on a bus, which still limits things because several buses are full.”
Calhoun added they are “hoping parents can help if at all possible” to drop off and pick up students at school to help alleviate some of the stress on buses.
Calhoun said they are trying to be “parent friendly” to help encourage this and are exploring options including creating a larger window of time for parents to drop off their students and dismissing car riders before bus riders.
Calhoun said they are working diligently on the entire situation and further details will be released in the upcoming weeks.
The next Mitchell County Board of Education meeting is set for Tuesday, Aug. 4 and the school year is scheduled to start on Monday, Aug. 17.