ALAMANCE COUNTY, N.C. — It's happening again, another delay to the school year for the Alamance-Burlington School System.
ABSS students and staff have to wait a second week before possibly returning to the classroom.
We've talked about how much of a challenge this is for some parents but teachers have to make changes as well.
Eighth-grade ABSS teacher Derek Tang said it's been difficult.
"I'm not going to lie it's felt a lot like those days when we were setting up right before we closed for COVID," Tang said.
Five-year Alamance-Burlington School teacher Derek Tang compared the abrupt school delay due to mold to the pandemic.
"Last week we were in the building Monday through Thursday," Tang said. "We were told on Thursday afternoon we had to leave our building with our computers then we were closed effective Thursday."
Tang teaches at Turrentine Middle School. It's one of more than two dozen ABSS schools impacted by mold.
School leaders said nine of them have dangerous toxic mold. It's led the district to go from a delayed Sept. 5 start to an even later start date of Sept. 11.
This means Tang can't meet his students until the third week of what would have been the regular school year.
"I've been spending time trying to reach out," Tang said. "I've been sending e-mails over the weekend out to students and their families to try and make some type of initial contact."
He also has to make adjustments to his lesson plan.
"I think we're going to have to cover a lot more ground in a lot less time. How are we going to be able to do this without skipping over anything and making sure we're covering our content in enough depth To make sure students are actually learning," Tang said.
The extended delay impacts the school calendar and teacher vacations.
ABSS is having teachers use vacation days this Tuesday and Wednesday so they can work on planned off days to make up for required instruction time missed.
Those workdays will be confirmed once the school calendar is amended.
"I'm sure that will be a point of debate at some point once we get that information. I know a lot of teachers are concerned because teachers make plans way in advance," Tang said. "Some have booked vacation sites for spring break or summer. A lot of people are waiting on pins and needles."
Mold remediation is actively going on at 22 ABSS schools.
That includes two of the 9 schools with toxic mold.
You can track Alamance-Burlington Schools' mold remediation progress on their website.