Laptops, grading info on way to Wake students

That was one of several major announcements at a virtual press conference with WCPSS Superintendent Cathy Moore and Wake Co Board of Education Chairman Keith Sutton.

Moore said seniors will given pass/fail grades, but how students in grades K through 11 will be assessed is still being worked out, depending in part on whether students are able to return to school before the end of the year.

Sutton said state board guidance also makes it clear that students cannot be assigned grades until they all have equal access to remote learning resources.

A district-wide survey last week on student access to laptops and internet connections found that out of about 160,000 students, 28,000 of them need some type of learning device and 10,000 need hotspots to access wi-fi, Moore said.

So 28,000 laptops, mostly already in use in schools, will be distributed to families by April 13th, when online classes district-wide will officially begin. Hotspots, which needed to be ordered and purchased, will start being distributed on or near April 13th.

Sutton said it will take time to get all the technology into students' hands. Families will be given appointment times to pick up devices at their children's school, or the school will find a way to deliver them those who can't pick them up.

Thanking parents for their patience in the meantime, Sutton announced a new partnership with UNC-TV, which will air two blocks of educational programming on weekdays for students in grades 4 through 12. He recommended that parents of pre-K through 3rd graders turn to the PBSKids channel, Rootle. Both are available free over the air and on cable providers statewide.

Moore said district nutrition staff are now distributing food at 34 sites around the county. They've served more than 186,000 meals to go since March 13th and are currently serving about 21,000 meals a day.

Sutton added that the district has started a new program, the Big Bus Food Truck, serving "five specific neighborhoods where many residents don’t have transportation."

That program served 5,000 meals this week, Sutton said, and has been so successful that it will be expanded to seven more trucks next week. Student families in those neighborhoods will be notified where and when the truck will be available.

April 6th through 10th is spring break for traditional-calendar students, Sutton said, but food will be provided all week, including Good Friday.

Sutton said the district is committed to making sure employees stay on the payroll throughout the semester, including those who cannot work remotely or cannot report to their assigned workplace.

Eligible employees, Sutton said, can claim up to 168 hours of paid state of emergency leave for April. And for those who requested personal leave or make-up time for closed days from March 16th through the 31st, 96 hours of additional state of emergency leave will cover those days as well.

Sutton thanked the state board for creating state of emergency leave and allowing its liberal use. "At a time when millions of workers nationwide have found themselves unemployed, this important decision will literally keep some of our WCPSS families solvent," he said.