North Carolina elementary schools can resume full in-person learning next month, Gov. Roy Cooper announced Thursday.
Under the state’s current plan, schools were allowed to open in smaller in-person classrooms to allow social distancing or offer remote learning. Cooper’s announcement resumes full attendance in K-5 public and charter schools Oct. 5.
“We are able to open this option because most North Carolinians have doubled down on our safety and prevention measures and stabilized our numbers,” Cooper said. “The science of lower viral spread among younger children also backs up this decision.”
The announcement comes a day after a group of Republicans and parents rallied for Cooper to allow students to return to brick-and-mortar schools if they choose. A majority of schools started the fall semester remotely in mid-August.
“Held a press conference to open schools, next day schools start reopening,” said Lt. Dan Forest, Cooper’s Republican opponent in the November election. “Maybe tomorrow we should hold a press conference on opening movie theaters, allowing family to watch their sons play football, treating bars like breweries.”
Remote learning has created child care challenges for working parents and increased learning obstacles for students with special needs, many have said. The General Assembly earlier this month set aside $440 million for $335 grants for parents to offset unexpected costs related to school closures.
“Of all the disruptions COVID-19 has created, education is the most challenging to address,” Cooper said. “As the school year has started, many parents are facing difficult choices and nearly impossible balancing acts between work, other obligations and dealing with their children being home.”
Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, said middle- and high-schoolers were excluded from the reopen plans because they are at greater risk for the coronavirus than younger children.
“We also have the benefit of evolving science, which is currently showing that younger children are less likely to become infected, less likely to have symptoms, experience severe disease, and less likely to spread the virus to others,” Cohen said. “The science also shows that in-person learning is so important for the development of all children and, especially, for younger children.”
Lawmakers allocated $840 million for schools to operate during the pandemic and passed legislation that keeps per-pupil funding at the same level as the previous school year, despite declines in public school enrollment.
Students will be required to wear masks as face coverings. Overall COVID-19 trends are declining, Cohen said Thursday.
Still, Cooper said he would like to see reduced emergency room visits and case positivity rates below 5 percent in the state before middle and high schools can reopen fully for in-person classes. Safety protocols and operational plans would have to be developed, Cohen added.
Public health officials confirmed 1,552 new coronavirus cases Thursday and 5.6 percent of tests conducted were positive. There were 894 people hospitalized with symptoms.
Senate Leader Phil Berger, R-Cleveland, condemned Cooper for not fully reopening schools Thursday and questioned the science behind his decision.
“Parents, teachers, and students are at their wits end struggling to try to make virtual learning work,” Berger said. “We continue to hear that these decisions are being made based on ‘science.’ What is the science that says it’s safe for fifth-graders to be in school full time, but it’s not safe for sixth-graders?'”
