Wake schools work to balance safety, socialization with return to the classroom
When the Wake County Board of Education voted Tuesday by a 5-4 margin to bring students back to the classroom next month, it set off what will be weeks of planning with some worry mixed in.
Posted — UpdatedHe won't see his students until Nov. 9. Grades 6-8 are the second group to return. They'll rotate to learn in the classroom one week and at home two weeks for the rest of the semester.
Students in pre-kindergarten through third grade will begin their three-week rotation – learning two weeks online and one week in person – on Oct. 26.
Grades 4 and 5 would return Nov. 16.
Grades 9-12 will remain in remote learning for the fall semester.
Elementary and K-12 special education programs could begin full-time in-person classes by Nov. 16.
“It will be much, much smaller, which of course helps certainly maintain social distancing,” he said.
Even parents who support getting their kids back into the classroom have reservations.
“You have to balance public health, and you have to balance the greater good,” said Tara Hun-Dorris. She is a single working mother who plans to send her third and sixth graders back to school.
“I have noticed that they are suffering from the social deficits of being stuck inside for over half the year,” she said.
The North Carolina Association of Educators calls the change a mid-semester distraction.
“They have a lot of questions, and they’re nervous, and we just want to make sure everyone feels good about this plan going forward,” he said.
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