Concerns arise as children head back to classrooms

For parents who work, it’s challenging to juggle everything. They’d like to send their children back to school but they have concerns.

“These kids are not going to practice social distancing, wearing a mask is tough so that is a major concern for me,” said Kim Hicks, who has a seventh grader currently at home.

Hicks said she is thinking about online learning for now. Hicks works so that makes things difficult. However, she's not comfortable sending her son back to school just yet.

“I don’t know how they could possibly enforce the distancing they’re talking about,” Hicks said.

Parents, school leaders grow impatient for state plan to resume classes

Durham Public Schools recently proposed in person instruction for pre-K through 8th grade. Online instruction would be for high school students.

"For some families, that's where they are," Davis said. "Kids have gotten kind of used to wearing the mask."

The state has required each district to have three plans with different levels of social distancing. One plan puts all students in the classroom, another plan combines in-class learning with online learning. The third plan is all remote learning.

“I would prefer him (her son) back in school because that’s where he would be the healthiest and get the most out of the learning and social aspect which is really important to him," Davis said. "But I also know there might be challenges.”

"We know we can be socially distant in the building," Sutton said. "How we do that from a bus standpoint, a transportation standpoint is driving quite a bit of that."

Sutton said those plans will evolve as the district sees what bus ridership looks like and how many students are attending school in person. He also said students will more than likely be screened with temperature checks before riding the bus.