Macon County’s K-5 students will be going to school for in-person instruction Monday through Thursday starting in October.
East Franklin Elementary, Cartoogechaye Elementary, Iotla Valley Elementary and South Macon Elementary schools, along with fifth graders at Mountain View Intermediate School, can begin attending in-person classes four days per week, while maintaining their remote-only Fridays.
The Macon County Board of Education met on Sept. 28, their first meeting since Gov. Roy Cooper gave schools across the state permission to host students up to fifth grade under Plan A.
Plan A removes current restrictions on the number of students in classrooms so long as basic preventative measures like face coverings and hand-washing are still observed. This is good news for Macon County Schools, where remote learning has been difficult for many educators, parents and students.
“Your 100 percent virtual students, when my wife checks on hers, she sees that they’re struggling,” said commissioner Gary Shields, whose wife is a Macon County Schools teacher. “You’re going to eventually have a group of students who come back to school having lost this semester.”
However, there is disagreement in the Macon County Schools community about how much in-person attendance is worth the risk. Franklin High School teacher John deVille wrote a letter to the board for their public comment period warning them not to get too comfortable. He argued that the county needed to keep a close eye on case numbers, and supply students and faculty with more testing and N95 masks before they considered increasing in-person instruction.
“We appreciate your efforts thus far to keep our students, faculty and staff safe during the pandemic, and as we add more students to our classrooms Oct. 5th, we would surely appreciate the board’s efforts and the county commissioners’ efforts towards the extra margins of safety afforded by additional testing capacity and higher quality masks,” deVille said.
Superintendent Chris Baldwin said he discussed this proposal with Macon County Public Health director Kathy McGaha and she said it would be acceptable. Because remote instruction still needs to continue to serve the hundreds of students who signed up for the virtual academy, Baldwin felt that maintaining at least one remote day would balance improving service for face-to-face instruction without leaving remote learners behind.
“Macon County still does have over 900 students who are receiving virtual instruction only,” Baldwin said. “[Teachers] need some time to serve those students who are at home.”
The board members voted unanimously for a four-day approach for K-5 students. These changes will take effect on Monday, Oct. 5, while students in higher grades will continue on with their current schedules.