CABARRUS COUNTY, N.C. — Thousands of children in Cabarrus County made their way back to the classroom as the district transitions to more days of in-person learning.
Starting Monday, elementary students from Pre-K to third grade moved back to Plan A, which has four days of in-person instruction and remote learning on Fridays. Fourth and fifth graders will return to school on March 15. For now, middle and high school students will continue under Plan B, which is a hybrid of in-person and remote learning.
Students in fourth through twelfth grade who receive services through the Exceptional Children, English Language Learners, 504 and McKinney-Vento programs also returned to the classroom under Plan A on Tuesday.
The school board's decision has brought controversy, as many teachers don't feel comfortable returning to school prior to getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
Meredith Newman, a second-grade teacher at Patriots STEM Elementary School in Cabarrus County, said she is excited that teachers have now been prioritized for the vaccine, but it will be several more weeks before they will be fully vaccinated.
"I know some teachers are having difficulty finding an appointment for the vaccine, and I know that the supply is still diminished," Newman said. "But hopefully we can get all of that rolling very soon."
RELATED: CMS requested vaccine priority 2 months ago. Today, many teachers returned to school unvaccinated
Newman said students in her classroom were able to successfully social distance on the first day of Plan A, which had been a concern with the transition.
"It did go smoother than I expected," Newman said. "My kids did a great job at social distancing and washing their hands and wearing their masks. They get better at that every day."
Since students and teachers have not yet been able to get the vaccine yet, Newman said she hopes the district will be transparent about COVID-19 data if there is transmission of the virus on campus.
"I do want to be assured that if we were to see an outbreak that we would, you know, put more preventative measures in place or pull back on the amount of reopening that we're doing," Newman added.
Cabarrus County Schools says it is taking steps to ensure everyone, teachers, students and other staff members, are as safe as possible for in-person learning.
Rocky River Elementary School principal Tara Butch said the school continued the temperature checks, health screenings, sanitizing, and social distancing it has been doing since students returned for some form of in-person learning last October.
"We just did it with more kids," Butch said. "So, you know, the car rider line this morning was a little bit longer than it has been, but we kind of expected that."
Butch said the elementary school had close to 70% of its students back in the building for in-person learning, and they were able to set up the classrooms with six feet of social distancing.
Butch said the teachers have done an amazing job navigating remote learning, but it was exciting to see students back in the school building and socializing with each other.
"Just to see that light come on and that smile, underneath the mask, 'cause you know, they do have to wear masks throughout the day," Butch said. "But just the excitement, you know, we've had multiple first days of school this year, so it's been a really good day."
A parent of a kindergartner and second-grader at Cox Mill Elementary School Dipak Adhikari said he was happy to see his students return to the classroom.
"It's nice to, nice to have them going back to school because they'll have more opportunity than at home," Adhikari said.
However, not every family is sending their students back to the school building yet.
Ashley Price, a mom to third-, fourth-, and 10th-grade students in Cabarrus County, said her children will continue remote learning a little longer.
"We want our teachers and our students' teachers and whoever, you know, is comfortable getting vaccinated getting vaccinated because that's the, you know, that's the way that we can tackle this," Price said.
It's also a way Price said she can keep her family safe.
"My grandfather lives with us, so we were waiting for him to get the vaccine before we made any decisions of whether or not they would go back to school," Price said. "He received his second dose last week, but we wanted to have a little bit more time before we sent them back in."
Price said she is hopeful her children can return for in-person learning by the end of March and will be watching the COVID-19 case numbers and vaccine distribution numbers closely.
"We just decided to give it a little more time," Price added. "You know, one less kid in the classroom, hopefully, is one less opportunity for a teacher to be exposed or another student to be exposed."
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools resumed its in-person learning for elementary students Monday, with over 26,000 kids heading back to school. By next week, that number will more than double with middle and high school students returning. CMS has over 950 buses back in operation with strict measures in place to protect bus drivers and students.
Superintendent Earnest Winston was also out and about, making several stops to meet with teachers and students to express his gratitude.
“To thank our hard-working staff members, our teachers, our custodians, our bus drivers, principals, everyone, because it truly does take a team effort,” Winston said.