ALAMANCE COUNTY, N.C. — Alamance-Burlington School System named an interim CFO for the second time this week. The district let go of the old one last weekend, then suspended her replacement 2 days later.
All this comes as ABSS sorts through money issues, one of its proposed solutions is closing Alamance Virtual School.
WFMY News 2's Nixon Norman heard from two parents who are against the idea.
Holly Schwabrow said her son Gabriel first went virtual during the pandemic as a fourth grader. She said he tried to go in-person for fifth grade but had a bad experience.
Now, her son attends Alamance Virtual School.
She fears for the wellbeing of the children that are currently thriving there, if they were to go back to school in-person.
"It would be a detriment to their mental health and their academics, I can't even imagine how it will go. As far as the parents, every time I drop him off at school, I would be ready to pick him up already… the anxiety levels are through the roof," Schwabrow said.
The district said the virtual school was made for the COVID era and that pandemic funding paid for it. Leaders sais the funding expires this year, so they intended to close the school when the money ran out.
Schwabrow believes closing the school won't be that financially beneficial.
"We are the smaller school in the district right now, so to cut that [Alamance Virtual School] doesn't really make sense. We do not have cafeteria workers, we do not have any of those kind of expenses. We do not have bus drivers, we have none of those expenses."
She said she and other parents felt blindsided by this and because this feels so sudden, figuring out what happens next is a mystery for her family,
"Just imagine, if this was your child's school all the sudden one day, you might not have it anymore… out of nowhere… it's just, it's not right," Schwabrow said.
Another parent also voiced her concerns, Krista Barber sent in a statement saying, quote "All staff at AVS have been nothing short of amazing. With the news of the closing, my 11th grade son has increased anxiety about possibly having to return to in-person school."
To make the possible transition smoother, the district will host in-person school visits for students in the coming months. Again, the school board will vote on Monday, February 26, to officially vote on the closure of Alamance Virtual School at the end of the school year.