Board’s decision: start with Plan C for four weeks

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The Chatham County Board of Education unanimously passed a motion at its regular meeting last Thursday for the county’s public schools to go to the fully remote learning option — known as “Plan C” — for four weeks starting in the fall.

At the end of the four weeks, the board will re-evaluate whether CCS will transition to Plan B, the state’s prescription for a combination of remote and in-person learning, or continue with additional remote learning. Currently, CCS students are scheduled to return to school Aug. 17 — nearly five months after Cooper first ordered schools closed to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Because of meeting size limitations, the board’s meeting was live streamed through YouTube to approximately 240 attendees. Originally scheduled to consider the district’s drafted plan for continued remote learning, the meeting primarily focused on responding to Gov. Roy Cooper’s announcement last Tuesday that North Carolina Public Schools would open in August with restrictions under Plan B. During that announcement, Cooper said individual districts could choose to adopt to move to Plan C.

The board’s motion, proposed by board member David Hamm and seconded by board member Melissa Hlavac, underwent two revisions and remained on the floor for nearly an hour before a formal vote was taken. Originally, Hamm proposed CCS enter Plan C for nine weeks, but he amended his motion after CCS Superintendent Derrick Jordan suggested a shorter period before re-evaluation. The second revision clarified that the board felt the decision to go to Plan C was needed “to ensure the health and safety of students and teachers and to satisfy instructional requirements.”

“Right at this moment in time, it’s not a debate of going to Plan B,” Hamm said a few minutes before making the motion. “Yes, we’ll go to Plan B at some point in time — maybe nine weeks will give us some time to figure that out.”

Plan B the most complex option

Prior to Hamm’s motion, board member Jane Allen Wilson suggested the board delay making a decision that night and call a special meeting for early the next week. Though she expressed a personal preference for Plan C, she said the board “owed it to the public” to have conversations with the public prior to making a firm decision. Board member Del Turner expressed support for a special meeting, and emphasized the importance of hearing from teachers before deciding on their behalf.

In the public chat adjacent to the live stream of the meeting, many virtual attendees expressed frustration at the indecisiveness of the board, particularly from Wilson.

“You were elected to make a decision,” attendee Kimrey Rhinehardt said in response to Wilson saying she didn’t want her personal opinions to dictate her vote.

Wilson referenced articles she read in the last few days, stating she wanted the board to have a more “thoughtful conversation” about creative ways to allow students — particularly those in elementary school — to interact with their teachers, rather than the “panicked conversation” she felt the board was having.

“I don’t feel like I’m making a panicked decision, thank you,” Hlavac said.

Hamm added: “I really wish we could be in person right now, because I hope people can hear in my voice that this is not panic, it’s passion. There’s a big difference.”

After some back and forth between Hamm and Wilson, Hlavac said making a decision — rather than delaying it to the next Monday or Tuesday — would be helpful to students and parents, even without all the “information at hand.” She pointed out it would likely be a long time before the board would have answers to all their questions.

“There are no good options here,” attendee Michele Jonsson Funk said in the chat, as many parents sent conflicting opinions on which plan should be adopted. “We are looking for the least bad option that is fair and doesn’t disproportionately impact kids and their families who are already at risk.”

At this point, board Chairman Gary Leonard suggested the amendment of the motion from nine weeks to four weeks. Wilson said she felt four weeks would allow for more flexibility.

Leonard also clarified the language of the motion should specifically include “remote” learning, as “virtual” learning is not possible for students without reliable broadband or internet-connected devices.

The vote was then called by Kristin Guthrie, administrative assistant to the superintendent. Prior to the Thursday BOE meeting, CCS told stakeholders in an email they’d be making an announcment soon regarding a strategy for school reopening.

“While we had no prior knowledge that Plan B is where state officials would land, we recognized that it was the most complex option on the table and last week deployed a survey to gather your input,” said that email message from last week, a copy of which was sent to the News + Record.

Some of the requirements outlined by the governor for Plan B include required face coverings for all students and teachers, limited numbers of people — maximum 50% capacity — in school buildings to allow for social distancing and the provision of masks and thermometers to schools.

More details to come

Prior to the board’s vote for CCS to go to Plan C, Superintendent Jordan gave a brief presentation sharing survey results with the board. The presentation included results from the surveys on reopening school from parents, students and employees, as well as results from a survey specifically regarding remote learning.

While the remote learning survey closed Wednesday at noon, the data from the reopening survey was three weeks old. Hamm questioned the accuracy of these results several times, stating cases in North Carolina had risen drastically since then. Several attendees in the chat feature agreed.

“There wasn’t a person thinking three weeks ago that now wouldn’t be better — and now it’s actually worse,” Hamm said.

The CCS presentation also included a breakdown of the projected costs of over $276,000 for the district to comply with the state’s health standards for Plan B, announced by Gov. Cooper Tuesday. Many of the items on this list included recurring purchases, but the district was not clear how often those items (such as hand sanitizer) would need to be replaced. This budget would come from local funds, the CCS presentation said.

Before entering closed session, the board discussed the Seaforth High School Attendance Zone. In the public comment session, citizens overwhelmingly supported scenario two, stating significant concern about the board clustering affluence at Seaforth and taking away resources from Northwood High School. The board removed scenario one from consideration and unanimously pushed the final decision on Seaforth attendance to their next regular session meeting, scheduled for Aug. 10.

“Once again, this should have been a conversation that should have been had three weeks ago,” attendee Randall Armstrong said in the chat.

The board also unanimously approved the district’s draft of its remote learning plan, due by July 20 to the North Carolina State Board of Education under Senate Bill 704 and SBE SPLN-006. Several people in the chat questioned why the remote learning plan was not discussed prior to taking the vote. The 44-page draft details information regarding community survey and consultation sessions, technology training and support, student and staff expectations by grade level range and more.

The Friday after the BOE meeting, CCS suspended summer workouts “until further notice” at Northwood, Jordan-Matthews and Chatham Central. Two days before the cancelation of workouts, the NCHSSA anounced it was delaying the start of fall sports until at least Sept. 1. It is not yet clear when other specific details about how Plan C will be implemented or decided and announced to CCS families.

“We recognize this is not a user-friendly format,” the draft currently reads, adding the format was required by the state for submission. “We will develop specific guides for parents, students, and staff. We appreciate your patience as we work on these documents.”

“This will continue to be a work in progress,” Jordan said regarding the plan.

Reporter Hannah McClellan can be reached at hannah@chathamnr.com.