Anson Record file photo
A young student uses a dry-erase board in class.
WADESBORO — Anson County Board of Education members gathered for a special meeting on Feb. 9 to discuss the outline of students returning to in-person classes in March.
The board previously voted to bring students back to schools starting on March 1, but this special meeting allowed each board member to discuss their ideas and concern for how an in-person return would look. The board came to the agreement of bringing back all students in a two cohort Plan B.
Superintendent Howard McLean was instructed to return to the board on Feb. 22 with a detailed description of the return. He will go over the plan during the regular meeting and if any tweaks need to me made, the board will address is at the meeting.
Students will be split into two different cohorts. Cohort A is tentatively scheduled to return in the classroom on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday no students will be in the class as it will be a cleaning day. Then Cohort B will come in on Thursday and Fridays.
Lunches would be brought into the classroom for students, like K-5 students experienced in the Fall. This would limit the interaction of students and reduce the spread of COVID-19.
One of the concerns of returning was that teachers would not have shots by March 1, but the day after the special meeting, Governor Roy Cooper announced K-12 personnel may start receiving the vaccine on Feb. 24.
“This includes teachers, principals, childcare providers, bus drivers, custodial and cafeteria staff and others in our pre-K-12 schools and childcare center,” Cooper said. “Moving to the next phase is good news. The challenge continues to be the very limited supply of the vaccine.”
Other frontline workers in Phase 3 will be eligible for a vaccination starting on March 10.
As of Feb. 9, about 30% of teachers and faculty members in the district signed up to receive a vaccine.
“With only 200 signed up, that concerns me,” Board Member Gay Lookabille said. “The health department will be working with us to get staff (vaccinated) that wants it.”
The other major concern brought up by the school board members is how to limit the interaction between students.
Anson High School Principal Chris Stinson said if two cohorts were to return, there would be about 285 students in on one day. Keeping the high school students to maintain a safe distance and limit interactions will be more difficult than it will be for younger students.
Stinson asked to keep the 1:30 p.m. dismissal when going to the two cohort transition. This early dismissal will allow students time to ask teachers for extra help.
By bringing students back on a two cohort layout, the school buses will need to create a new plan to accommodate more students. There is currently a statewide bus driver shortage. By bringing back more students, there will need to be more buses or routes as only a certain amount of students can be on one bus to keep proper COVID protocol. These new routes cannot be planned until the cohorts are established.
After bringing back students on March 1, and depending on how it goes, a few board members brought up the idea of a type of Plan A by the beginning of April.
“We need to have all face to face learning as possible from now to end of the school year,” Mike Turner, board member, said. “It’s been almost 12 months. That’s failing the students and failing the community.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released strategies to safely bring back students after research suggests K-12 in-person school is not the primary cause of virus transmission. By keeping strict mask mandates and following social distance guidelines, the transmission of COVID-19 will be minimal.
Reach Liz O’Connell at 704-994-5471 or at eoconnell@ansonrecord.com. Follow on Twitter at @TheAnsonRecord.
