CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Monday marks 4 weeks until the start of school for many districts in the Charlotte region go back to school. The clock is ticking and there is a lot more to plan for than in year’s past.
When kids go back to school, it will have been 5 months since they were inside a classroom.
“Our worlds got turned upside down in March. We were there one day, gone the next,” said Lindsay London, a CMS teacher.
School districts in the state must choose between plan B or C. Plan B is a mix of in person and remote learning and plan C is all remote learning.
CMS board members voted for plan B plus remote, the first two weeks will be in person learning. Only one third of students will be in the building at a time and they will follow a rotating schedule. On August 31, the start of the third week, everything will move online.
CMS teachers have created their own online anonymous survey to gauge how many teachers are comfortable going back in the school building.
“There's a lot of anxiety about how things are going to work, if they're going to work, because everything has to be executed very well when it comes to plans and a lot of people are nervous about that,” said Lawrence Brinson with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Association of Educators.
CMS released more information about its virtual academy. It will have more structure than what students got used to end last school year. Kids will have live instruction with a teacher for about 2 hours a day. The other 4 hours can be done on the family’s schedule and will include recorded instruction, assigned activities and reading.
“A lot of those expectations will be defined and communicated a lot better,” said Brinson.
Registration for virtual learning at CMS and Union County Public Schools is now open