CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The countdown begins.
CMS students will be starting school in just a few days, but starting today CMS teachers returned to the classroom.
"There's a lot of concern, there's a lot of anxiety," Melissa Easley CMS Middle School Teacher said.
They are required to report to their schools for training until classes start.
Come August 17th, they're encouraged to continue working from school buildings but can work from home. This plan leaving some teachers feeling uneasy.
"It's very frustrating, it's very frustrating, many people have voiced their concern about that, it feels like they don't trust us to do our jobs at home," Easley said.
Easley is a middle school CMS teacher and teacher advocate. She is one of the founders of the Facebook group, North Carolina Teachers United.
She has an underlying medical condition, which allows her to prepare for the school year at home.
But many feel they're putting themselves in harm's way by returning to the building.
"We cannot teach our kids if we are sick or dead," Easley said. "We can't do what we love to do if we are in the hospital on a ventilator."
CMS schools do have safety measures in place. Everyone has to wear a mask, practice social distancing, and get symptoms and temperature checks.
"They're doing what they can but it's not enough and they know it's not enough," Easley said.
According to an anonymous source, whose family member is a teacher at Ardrey Kell High School, say some faculty aren't wearing masks.
"There are quite a few staff members who seem to think they are in some type of protective bubble," the anonymous source said. "I saw another facility member who was not wearing a mask, and these people are very concerned."
School leaders are trying to do what's best for their students in the age of COVID-19, CMS going fully remote due to the high rate of positivity tests in our area.
"It's doable, and we can do it, we just have to lean on each other, it's really going to take the village," Easley said.
Easley said CMS teachers were provided 5 masks, some from the district and state.