CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Students in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools are learning virtually at home, which has been a struggle for many parents, but district leaders say they are being very deliberate about how they can get kids back into the classroom safely.
The CMS Metrics Advisory Committee will meet again Thursday morning to finish setting the exact criteria they recommend the district follow when reopening school buildings. Some virtual learning is here to stay. The meeting is scheduled for 8 a.m. Thursday.
"I know this is frustrating to people. They want a date. I can't pick a date arbitrarily," said Elyse Dashew, chairperson of the CMS Board of Education. "It's got to be guided by the data."
The committee is prepared to set the exact numbers and thresholds the district will look at when reopening. They're looking at community spread outside of schools and several factors inside. Some of those metrics include the number of cases in schools, transportation, nursing and custodial staffing, health and safety training and PPE stockpiles.
"We all want to bring children back together with their teachers in the classroom as soon as it's safe. As soon as it's safe, with not a moment to waste," Dashew said. "But not before it's safe."
For every metric, the committee will set the thresholds to fall into three levels of reopening. Green means all students can be back in the classroom, yellow denotes a mix of in-person and virtual learning, and red means all virtual learning. No matter what, Dashew said it will be a phased approach and there is a possibility that different schools open under different plans.
"To some extent, even when we're back in the schoolhouse, there will still be remote learning," Dashew said. "That will will be part of our lives for probably quite some time."
Dashew said one of the plans they are discussing involves bringing students who need special services back first, then the youngest and then the oldest.