Social distancing in Durham schools stricter than in other districts

Like in Wake County and most North Carolina school districts, masks are required in all indoor spaces. School buses will use seating charts to keep smaller groups of kids together in case the need for contact tracing arises.

Durham Public Schools will enforce a three feet social distancing guideline as classroom size allows, a policy less strict than last year's guidance but also more cautious than many districts in the area that aren't enforcing social distancing at all.

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Dr. Pascal Mubenga, Durham's superintendent, spoke fondly of his students on Tuesday morning and shared his hopes for the unusual school year.

"I'm very excited -- it's been more than a year since we've had the babies here," Mubenga said. "We want to stay positive."

Mubenga said he is excited yet cautious about the new school year.

"With the Delta variant, we are all fully aware and we have all protocols in place ... to make students and staff safe," he said. "Everyone is masking. We want to make sure, during this time especially, the students need to be able to space out either in the cafeteria or the classroom or they have to be outdoors."

Parents at Lakewood Elementary have stepped in to raise money for their school to improve safety.

"We know that the principals and the teachers and the staff are really working hard and doing everything they can right now, and their plate is really full," said Delaney Susi, who has a second grader at Lakewood.

She and another parent started a GoFundMe to buy an air purifier for every classroom at Lakewood. So far, it's raised $10,000.

DPS is also offering a permanent virtual learning option called Ignite for all grade levels. Last year, when the district resumed in-person learning, at least 11,000 students decided to continue with the online classes.

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Mubenga said 700 students have signed up for Ignite this year. Like Wake County Public Schools, Durham is struggling to find enough teachers.

"We wish we had the capacity to extend, but it is hard to find teachers," he said.

Finally, Mubenga commented on the rising coronavirus cases.

"I will tell you this, we are cautiously optimistic and will take it one day at a time," he said. "We hope the protocols we have in place will work out and then the staff as well as the students will all get vaccinated."

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Durham was one of the first school districts in central N.C. to reinstate a mask mandate when cases began rising over the summer. It was also one of the first districts in the state to go virtual in 2020.