Cumberland County students will stay in remote learning through end of semester
Despite a recommendation from Superintendent of Cumberland County Schools Marvin Connelly that students transition to in-person learning on Oct. 19, the board of education on Thursday voted to stick with remote learning at least until the end of the fall semester.
The board also decided to allow school sports outdoors and allow indoor volleyball.
Sixty-seven employees of Cumberland County Schools have tested positive for the coronavirus since school began. As a result, more than 100 employees were exposed to the coronavirus.
Seven people had to be hospitalized from the coronavirus, and one staff member died.
Despite this, Connelly recommended that the district resume in-person classes. He said that the recommendation is based on coronavirus metrics in the county and guidance from the Cumberland County Health Department.
New COVID-19 cases by county
The curves below, showing a 7-day rolling average of reported new cases in each county, use data collected from state health officials by Johns Hopkins University's Coronavirus Resource Center. The counties are sorted by the largest total of lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases, and the top-20 counties are shown by default. Vertical axes are scaled by default based on the largest number of new cases. Select the variable axis setting to scale each county's cases individually to see their respective spikes. Enter a county below to highlight it for comparison. NOTE: Starting on Sept. 25, the Johns Hopkins data began including cases identified through antigen testing reported by DHHS. The addition of these cases appears as a sharp spike in some counties.
Source: Johns Hopkins CSSE
Graphic: Tyler Dukes, WRAL // Get the data
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Three board members voted for reopening, and six board members voted against.
Charles McKellar, one of the board members who voted against the Connelly's recommendation, said that there wasn't a strong enough plan for him to vote for in-person instruction.
McKellar said he would want the schools to do on-campus, rapid testing to limit the spread of coronavirus.
Connelly responded and said that school systems are not in the position to do testing. That would be done in the medical community, he said. Instead, students and staff would be screened for the coronavirus before they entered schools in the morning.
Cumberland County superintendent pitches plan for rotation to in-class learning
The plan the Connelly proposed was a blended learning model. Students would be divided into two groups – group "A" would go to school on Monday and Tuesday, and group "B" would go to school on Thursday and Friday. When students aren't in school, they would be learning online.
Families who chose to stick with remote learning could participate in classes via live stream, according to the plan.
Students in pre-k and those with special needs would go to school for the entire week.
Greg West, vice chair of the board, made a motion to allow that students who needed in-person instruction be invited back on campus starting October 13. West voted for Connelly's recommendation.
After discussion, West's motion was put off for the next board meeting.
Jennifer Green, the health director of Cumberland County, recommended last Tuesday that schools in Cumberland County should reopen only if the rate of positive coronavirus tests in the county were to drop and there was a promising 14-day downward trend in new coronavirus cases.
