A letter signed by 51 high school staff members and sent to Chatham County Schools’ Board of Education members expresses “grave” concerns over the safety of hybrid in-person learning and calls for the board to return to the fully remote Plan C.
The letter — a copy of which was given to the News + Record — was emailed to board members on Tuesday. Composed by several CCS high school employees, it was updated from a previous version of the letter following the BOE’s Jan. 11 decision to delay the start of hybrid learning from Jan. 21 to Feb. 1. At the time of that decision, the board cited the desire to give teachers and staff more time to prepare for Plan B.
“We thank you for pushing back the start of Plan B for high school during this dangerous time of the COVID pandemic. And we thank the school board for taking into account the concerns of teachers,” the letter said. “But we are still gravely concerned about the safety of our communities and would like to reiterate our support for a return to Plan C.”
CCS board members had not replied to the letter at the time of publication, but board chairperson Gary Leonard told the News + Record that administration was working through some of the questions mentioned in it. He said he holds CCS staff “in the highest regard,” particularly as a retired teacher.
“I know how hard their jobs are, and with COVID it’s even harder, and I understand the angst that’s involved,” he said. “When I say that, it sounds like I don’t care. No. I want everybody to know that we’re trying to do our best to provide the safest atmosphere, for our students and our staff, as possible.”
'The risk-benefit-ratio is a little high'
The staff letter included data and comments from a survey conducted by organizers of the letter the previous week — completed by more than 140 county faculty and staff at the time of publication, with respondents from all of the district’s high schools. Out of those who responded, 46.5% of staff members said CCS should proceed by moving all schools back to Plan C, while another 21.8% said K-8 should continue on Plan B and 9th-12th grades should remain in Plan C. Twelve percent said K-5 should continue Plan B, grades 6-8 should return to Plan C and grades 9-12 should remain in Plan C. Another 12.7% said the district should continue its transition to Plan B.
Several CCS employees told the News + Record they were concerned about the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the state and county, the lack of data on high schools operating under Plan B and returning before receiving their vaccinations. County and state health officials have previously said school employees should get their vaccine over the next weeks to months.
“Teachers are ready to come back when it’s safe, and we want to come back when it’s safe,” said Northwood teacher Edward Walgate, a signer who spearheaded the writing of the letter. “After talking to a lot of elementary and middle school teachers and parents who have kids in Plan B, it seems like a really stripped down version of classroom learning, missing out on all the good stuff — the one-on-one over-the shoulder-help, the group work, the hands-on stuff and large classroom discussions.
“So we’re getting two days a week of very austere learning for a lot of risk,” he added. “For me, and for a lot of teachers, it seems like the risk-benefit-ratio is a little high.”
Of the staff surveyed for the letter, 35 respondents said they were likely or very likely to “take medical leave, resign, or retire early and no longer report to the building daily” if the district continued the transition to Plan B. Already, the letter said 54 CCS staff members have retired or resigned since September 2020, according to personnel info released in school board minutes.
Leonard said CCS’ human resources staff has worked hard to balance giving staff options with providing “the best possible education.”
“Unfortunately, this stuff is just so hard,” he said. “We’ve had teachers who have come back to us after each grade span, after 3rd-5th and 6th-8th, and when (staff) saw the protocols going on, they felt that the safety protocols helped them and reassured them. But I do understand that we do have people that do not feel reassured. We’re trying everything we possibly can to provide a quality education for our students.”
At the BOE’s Sept. 23 meeting, concern over CCS employees’ feelings of readiness to return to in-person instruction was discussed by the board, where they referenced a district-wide survey from that month. Results showed nearly early 30% of respondents felt comfortable returning to in-person learning; 41% did not feel comfortable and 30% said they were unsure. That survey had about 1,050 responses, the district said at the time, or an 80% participation rate.
“I think those numbers are really glaring,” board member David Hamm said at that meeting.
As of Saturday, the district reported 52 total positive COVID-19 cases among students and 50 among staff since the partial return to Plan B on Oct. 19. There have been 62 total cases among staff since Aug. 17, the first day of school. No clusters have been identified within the district.
'It's just so untested'
During the board’s Jan. 11 meeting, board members queried the ABC Science Collaborative on its data specific to high school students, a move staff commended in its letter. ABC Science Collaborative is a project which analyzes COVID-19-related data in partnership with Duke, UNC and surrounding school districts, including CCS. Michael Smith, who presented ABC Science Collaborative’s findings at the January meeting, emphasized that the group found schools are safe to remain open when the three W’s are followed, under Plan B and Plan A. However, he did say the group had less data for Plan A, and he said he could not speak to what the data showed specific to high schools without further review.
“Teachers are particularly concerned about big differences between high school students and elementary students,” the letter said, referencing the ABC Collaborative’s data. “The study did not break down infection rates of different age children. We are highly anxious about the movement of high schoolers in the building, their socializing outside of school, and their compliance with safety procedures.”
Several teachers the News + Record spoke with expressed concern about eating lunch with their students in their classrooms, including Walgate, who added that several factors of the high school schedule caused safety concerns.
“A lot of it does, because it’s just so untested,” he said of his concerns. “I’ve got faith in my school, my administration here at school, they’re putting a lot of plans in place. But again, it’s untested with high schoolers — that’s my main concern.”
The main concerns regarding Plan B among staff surveyed for the letter included sharing a room with students while they were eating, staffing shortages, personal safety and enforcing mask-wearing and social distancing. And while returning to in-person learning to improve outcomes for students has been a driver of COVID-19 discussions, many teachers worried about meeting the needs of students at home — saying that helping and teaching remote students would be nearly impossible with in-person students in front of them, too.
Walgate said he plans to keep teaching, even if Plan B continues as scheduled. Still, he said it’s been painful to see and hear of other teachers leaving. Just last week, he watched a “really good teacher” and colleague wheel her personal belongings out of the building after resigning for health reasons.
At neighboring Wake County Schools, a staffing shortage led its BOE to implement a two-week pause on in-person learning, extended to at least mid-February last week. The CCS staff letter expressed concern over the district’s position vacancies, substitute shortages and “higher likelihood of staff calling out sick,” saying staffing issues would be inevitable if Plan B is implemented.
Eliza Brinkley, another Northwood teacher who signed the letter, said she thinks much of the frustration she and her colleagues are feeling goes back to the “systemic under appreciation of teachers.”
“Trying to figure out yet again another completely new platform of teaching within one year is just daunting,” she said. “And if we weren’t so concerned about the spread and the rising cases, and this new variant that’s on the horizon, I think then we would do it, right, because we’ll do what we have to do for our students. Our main point is: this is our workplace. If we were at a corporate company or another profession, I don’t know that we necessarily would be asked to risk our health, possibly.”
When the News + Record posted its update of the BOE’s decision to move the in-person start date for high schools to Feb. 1 on Facebook, some commenters suggested teachers were lazy or pampered for not wishing to return. Walgate and Brinkley both referenced such hurtful comments — which they’ve both seen and heard in the community — saying people don’t understand all the work that goes into teaching, particularly during a pandemic. Teachers and administrators have previously told the News + Record their workload has increased dramatically during remote learning, which will continue even as some form of in-person learning is implemented under Plan B.
Walgate added that teachers bear a lot of the brunt of the myriad services schools provide for students and families.
“And we ask that our health and safety concerns, not just of us but of our households, would be respected,” he said.
Reporter Hannah McClellan can be reached at hannah@chathamnr.com.