Wake County Schools

Wake County student calls for online classes as Gov. Cooper decides reopening plan

As the state awaits a decision on school reopening plans, nearly 1,500 people signed a high school senior's petition calling for the Wake County Public School System to adopt an online-only school reopening plan, instead of proposed in-person approaches.

Posted Updated

By
Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez
, NC News Intern Corps
CARY, N.C. — As the state awaits a decision on school reopening plans, nearly 1,500 people signed a high school senior’s petition calling for the Wake County Public School System to adopt an online-only school reopening plan, instead of proposed in-person approaches.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said he will announce his school reopening plan Tuesday at 3 p.m., after delaying the original announcement set for July 1. If Cooper says schools have to operate fully online, every North Carolina School district will have to cooperate.

Wake County, North Carolina’s largest school district, has not finalized its reopening plan, but in the district’s Return to Campus Guide for Families, Superintendent Cathy Quiroz Moore said the district plans to start the school year with a mix of online and in-person instruction.

More than 10 percent of the district’s students have voted with their feet, with applications to the Wake Virtual Academy up to 18,000.

The petition, started by high school senior Brien Brennan, collected signatures from students, parents and teachers who believe online-only instruction, as opposed to in-person instruction, will prevent COVID-19 transmission in schools.

Brennan, who attends Heritage High School in Wake Forest, said it would be virtually impossible to maintain social distance at schools, especially in hallways, classroom doorways and buses.

“All it takes is one cough, one sneeze,” Brennan said. “Just one strong exhalation from a kid who is possibly unknowingly infected with COVID-19. That's all it takes for an outbreak to start within these spaces.”

Brennan said he hopes Gov. Cooper mandates an online-only reopening plan, because if not, any COVID-19 outbreaks originating in schools could turn deadly.

“It's easy to just say the word outbreak; it's easy to say the word infection,” he said. “But behind those words are real people whose lives will be erased by this, unfortunately.”

Heather Scott, the Wake County School Board member representing District 1, which includes Brennan’s school, commented on an Instagram post Brennan made about the petition.

“I do have to add that nearly every elementary parent I hear from wants in-person learning every day. For every student,” Scott said. “Because they can’t afford to stay home, and don’t feel comfortable with childcare options.”

School board members have heard myriad opinions from families as they plan for reopening, Scott said.

“We have heard from families who do not think Covid-19 is an issue, those who are concerned but want students to return, to those who want virtual-only options,” Scott said in an email. “A full range of concerns and perspective, and we see a similar full spectrum of concerns among employees.”

Although there are pros and cons to any of the school reopening plans, Alina Khan, an incoming senior at Apex Friendship High School who signed the petition, said it’s better to reopen online because she doesn’t know how effective social distancing policies will be.

“Even if we have three groups, there's a couple hundred students that will still be on campus,” Khan said. “It will be extremely hard to social distance then, and I doubt everyone is going to wear their mask for a full seven hours.”

Despite how the Wake County Public School System wants to open schools, the first week of the academic year will be fully in-person, due to a provision of the COVID-19 Recovery Act passed unanimously by the General Assembly and signed by Gov. Cooper in May.

Brennan said there will be challenges with any school reopening plan, but the facts about COVID-19 transmission say that any in-person school reopening approach will lead to outbreaks in Wake County. The county has the second highest number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state behind Mecklenburg County.

“We are not going to come out of this with a perfect solution, and people will face negative consequences for any decision that is made,” Brennan said. “I simply believe that virtual learning is the best decision for all students at all levels.”

The NC News Intern Corps is a program of the NC Local News Workshop, funded by the North Carolina Local News Lab Fund and housed at Elon University’s School of Communications.

 Credits 

Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.