WCPSS leaders: Expanded virtual academy 'increasingly unlikely'

The district has been able to hire virtual teachers since the school year began.

The district has reduced open positions by instead using some statewide online learning classes — through North Carolina Virtual Public Schools — and enlisting active teachers to teach virtual classes during their plan periods. Those teachers receive bonus pay for doing so.

Parents are still calling schools, asking to transfer their children into virtual academy, either out of health concerns or objections to COVID-19 protocols. A parent spoke before the school board Tuesday, asking for more options in light of higher COVID-19 case numbers.

Another wrote the board saying people who did not want to follow COVID-19 protocols “should be given the opportunity to go into virtual academy to protect the children wearing their masks properly and families following guidelines.”

As of Aug. 13, the district listed 130 unfilled virtual academy teaching positions, an 18.5% vacancy rate among the 703 funded positions. But on Tuesday, the district reported only 30 unfilled virtual academy teaching positions, a 4.5% vacancy rate out of only 673 funded positions.

Cook said expanding virtual school, because of the struggles in hiring, appears “increasingly unlikely” and that some options the district could explore have “insurmountable challenges.”

“All that said, we will continue to exhaust every effort in this area based on what we see possible,” Cook told the board.

The district could increase virtual classroom size, Cook said. Or it could move in-person students to other sections of those same classes at their school, to free up an in-person teacher to run a virtual class.

“Our last option is to ask faculty to again engage in concurrent teaching,” Cook said.

That’s when teachers teacher both virtual and in-person students live, engaging both groups at the same time.

That would have a negative impact on both students and teachers, Cook said.

Board Member Chris Heagarty asked if the district can refer parents who can’t get into the district’s virtual academy to the North Carolina Virtual Public School, operated at the state level.

“NCVPS is about tapped out,” Cook said. “And the reason they’re tapped out is, as you can imagine, is that districts across the state like Wake are using them” to fill out their own virtual academy programs.

Now that virtual academy is limited to only students enrolled in it full-time, for the entire semester, board members and parents also have been concerned about what learning options are available to students who must quarantine. Last year, those students could log back on to their old virtual academy classrooms from when schools remained closed to daily in-person learning.

In August, Cook said teachers must post class work on Google Classroom or Canvas, communicate with quarantined students daily and provide weekly live officer hours to help students. On Tuesday, Cook said the district is asking current teachers to offer after-hours tutoring and has now posted a Request for Proposals for a contractor to provide online tutoring services.

Cook said the help for quarantined students is not the same quality as in-person learning but is good enough to keep students, including his daughter, from falling far behind.

“If she had to be quarantined tomorrow, I would be comfortable… she will be better prepared for school than she has ever been in a two-week absence in her career,” Cook said.

Beyond virtual academy teachers, the district has struggled to hire people to fill support staff openings, such as nutrition workers, bus drivers and mechanics.

For the transportation sector, vacancy rates haven’t really changed, with a 17% driver vacancy and a 35% mechanic vacancy.

But Superintendent Cathy Moore told the board Tuesday that extended delays in busing students home from school has been improving with adjusted route plans.

But parents should use caution when monitoring the Here Comes the Bus app tracking bus routes’ progress, district Chief of Facility and Operations Mark Strickland said. The app isn’t equipped to track the “double runs” that some drivers are making to transport multiple bus loads of students to or from the same schools.

The district continues to have a high vacancy rate in Child Nutrition Services. It was 24% as of Aug. 31, down from about 27.3% Aug. 13. Of 832 positions, 200 are vacant. Nearly all district-office nutrition services staff have been deployed to schools to help sustain cafeteria operations, the district reported Tuesday.

Issues with food supply chain have resulted in more limited menu options, and supply chain and personnel shortages have raised concerns about how easily school staff can distribute meals across campuses in a variety of cafeteria settings during the pandemic.