GREENSBORO, N.C. — Guilford County Schools' district leaders are deciding whether to reopen schools and how their plan would be implemented. The district announced Thursday some athletes could start workouts on Sept. 28.
Gov. Roy Cooper also gave the green light for leaders to reopen schools. However, concerns remain about teacher safety and whether there is enough space for social distancing.
School leaders were on hand to answer viewer questions, Wednesday about reopening plans and connectivity issues affecting remote learning.
The school district recently opened learning centers to help students who may not have devices or internet access. Officials said they're still working to get more devices to students.
"We're looking at late October to early November to get all of the devices in. We've asked our vendors to incrementally deliver those as they can," Angie Henry said. Henry is the chief operations and financial officer for Guilford County Schools.
Henry said students can access learning centers on weekdays and weekends. The district opened 10 additional internet hubs, which brings the total to 23. The learning sites would be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily but students need to be registered.
"On the weekends, we have the internet hubs that will be open this Saturday for students who may need to come in to have access to a device and to get onto the Internet," Henry said.
GCS officials hoped by opening these hubs and learning centers, the needs of students with connectivity and device issues would be addressed as much as possible. School officials have also extended the deadline to sign up for Virtual Academy to Sept. 25. That's just a day after the school board is expected to consider reopening plans.
"The reason that we have extended the registration deadline is so that parents will know on Sept. 24 what the reentry plan will look like. That's when the Board of Education will vote on the reentry plan," Dr. Whitney Oakley said.
If the board votes to reopen schools, students could begin to return between Oct. 5 - 20. Oakley said a decision about reopening schools still depends on coronavirus health trends for the first two weeks of October.
GCS officials also said as they work on reentry plans, they are considering teachers too and how comfortable they feel about coming back to the classrooms.
"Certainly for those who have medical needs or fall under the at-risk category, the human resources department is working with them on a case-by-case basis to make sure that teachers feel safe returning," Oakley said.
They said school officials have put health and safety protocols in place and part of the plan is to try to keep teachers and students in the same groups to minimize exposure to coronavirus.
"We will be serving meals in classrooms, we will be offering the specials in classrooms, either virtually or a teacher may come into the classroom if they're available," Henry said.
She said they're working with public health officials on protocols to address concerns about what would happen if a teacher or student tests positive for coronavirus.
"We rely on our public health department to help us make those decisions and identify what actions need to be taken by staff or students who may be in contact with somebody who will eventually test positive," Henry said.
Under Plan B, the school district has reserved Wednesdays for disinfecting surfaces and deep cleaning school buildings. This schedule would allow at least 24 hours before students return to classrooms. The school district has not said what would happen if they returned under Plan A, which would allow all elementary school students to return to in-person learning.
