NORTH CAROLINA, USA — The governor's latest push to get all school districts to provide in-person learning options for students is giving some parents hope their children will get the chance to go back to the classroom soon.
Governor Roy Cooper urged districts to offer an in-person learning option for all students, while still giving students the option to stay remote if that's what's best for the student.
Guilford County parents like Alison Schwartz are hopeful that means their children will go back to in-person learning soon.
"I think it absolutely needs to happen. At least for my child, I can't speak for other children and I know that there are certainly inherent risks that come along with it for teachers and for the support staff in the school but my hope is that we can safely return to work and return kids to school," said Schwartz.
While some districts have or are planning to bring middle and high school students back in the next few weeks, the Guilford County Board of Education voted in mid-January to delay reentry for middle and high school for at least three weeks.
Schwartz has a son in ninth grade at Grimsley High School in Greensboro, who hasn't ever stepped foot inside his high school, due to the pandemic.
"My son has never walked through the doors of Grimsley. This is a school he doesn’t know," said Schwartz.
Schwartz said remote learning has not only had an impact on her son's grades but also mental health.
"My son has suffered greatly from a mental health standpoint. We really hit a really bad low in I would say December, early January right when his younger brother was headed back to school, and he saw how much going back to school helped his younger brother," Schwartz said.
Schwartz is worried about what kind of impact this year will have on her son's future.
"One of the things he's learning about high school is his GPA matters and he has aspirations to go to college and do those kinds of things and so it's starting to hit him now that the grades he makes are going to impact him later in life," said Schwartz, "That’s scary and sad to me as a parent that this kind of emergency type situation is going to thrust him potentially into a future where he doesn’t get to choose where he wants to go to school."
As a mother, watching her son struggle has been difficult.
"I spent one evening crying for both of my children because it's just so difficult to watch them struggle with virtual school and I work full time so I can't be there with them during the day," Schwartz said.
Charlotte Mathena has two sons in middle and high school and said her family desperately needs their children back in school.
"At the beginning, it was so very hard. We were excited for school to start, we thought this was going to be really temporary, and then it just wouldn’t let up so there was a lot of failing," Mathena said.
Since, Mathena said she's hired a tutor to help her seventh-grade son, which has helped some but still isn't the same as getting an in-person education.
"We're not learning. We're not getting everything we need and we need to go back to school," said Mathena.
Mathena said the fear of the virus is very real, as COVID-19 has hit her family close to home.
"My mother currently has COVID. She’s 75, but we’ve been really keeping an eye on her. So yeah, the fear is there," she said.
Mathena said since the beginning of the pandemic, more research has been done on the virus and the impact on children in schools, and feels good about the possibility of sending her children back.
"We need to pay close attention to what the science says and the science says it's safe," she said, "A little bit of a normal lifestyle which is our kids need to go back to school."
"Finding some way for these children to have some routine even if it just involves a couple of days a week," Schwartz said.
Guilford County Schools released a statement in response to the governor's news conference Tuesday afternoon.
- "Our plan has always been to give parents options and to bring more students back into school buildings while doing so in the safest way possible. While GCS is currently educating 20,000 students in-person, the superintendent knows thousands more still desire and need in-person instruction.” – Whitney Oakley, chief academic officer
Guilford County School Board Member Linda Welborn said in a statement to WFMY News 2, her decision to delay re-entry in the board’s last vote was due to the high number of hospitalizations in the county. She said medical services are now available due to the number of hospitalizations decreasing and that the data supports schools are safe for students.
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools is also reacting to the governor's remarks.
- In response to the Governor’s statements and the toolkit updates, WS/FCS Interim Superintendent Tricia McManus said, “Our plan has always been focused on getting all our students in school, as many days as possible. We know students learn best, in person. We are well on our way to alignment with the Governor’s request as our Pre-K to 3rd-grade students already have the option to learn in person four days a week. We continue to look at the safest way to get other grades in the school buildings more often. We are committed to making this happen.”
WS/FCS high school students in grades 10, 11, and 12 will return to in-person learning in cohorts on Feb. 22.