Durham Public Schools presents its own plan for students to return in fall

What will school look like this fall? It's a topic on the minds of a lot of parents, teachers and state leaders.

Posted 2:56 a.m. Jun 26, 2020 — Updated 3:51 a.m. Jun 26, 2020

Kirsten Gutierrez

, WRAL reporter

DURHAM, N.C. — What will school look like this fall? It's a topic on the minds of a lot of parents, teachers and state leaders.

School districts across the Triangle are working on plans to get students back in the classroom safely. Earlier this week, Wake County Public Schools submitted a proposal. Thursday night, Durham Public Schools announced its proposal.

Wake schools leaders release initial guidelines for masks, buses and screening protocol

The state requires each district to have three plans with different levels of social distancing. Durham Public Schools and Wake County Public Schools have similar proposals, but with the way things are going nowadays, nothing is set in stone.

Durham Public Schools have three options. Plan A has all students in the classroom. Plan B has a mix of online and in-class learning. Plan C continues online learning only. They also have a hybrid model where half the students would be at home and half would be in school. To help narrow down which option is the best, Superintendent Pascal Mubenga surveyed teachers.

“Out of the survey, nearly half of our teachers, 47%, they really want to teach online," Mubenga said. "They want to stay home and teach online. There was about 39% that wanted a hybrid model. And then roughly about 14 % wanted to teach in person.”

Although plans are in place, many school districts, including DPS, will wait on the governor before making any final decisions. The district is planning to hold a town hall meeting July 9 to hear from the community about these proposals.

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