CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Update: The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education voted Tuesday to approve a virtual instruction plan that would include students in kindergarten, first grade and second grade.
Original story continues below.
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While most kids headed back to the classroom this year, not every family felt safe sending their kids to school. Families with kids who have compromised immune systems say they had to go virtual -- but say Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools left them with no choice for the youngest kids.
For kids in kindergarten through second grade at CMS there is no option to go virtual and at least one family says they had no choice but to homeschool their kids.
The Wallace family home stays hectic. Liam is 7, Mary Emma is 9 and Charlie is 11. Charlie has down syndrome and respiratory issues that have landed him in the hospital several times over the years.
"It's absolutely terrifying, it's not anything a parent would want to go through," mom Maureen Wallace said.
Maureen and her husband Jeremy worry COVID-19 could be a death sentence for their oldest.
"You don’t even want to think about it," Jeremy said.
So the family has been in a virtual lockdown to keep Charlie safe.
The only problem? School.
CMS didn’t offer a virtual option for the youngest grades, meaning there was no option for Charlie’s little brother.
"We’re trying to stay locked down, we’re trying to keep Charlie safe, and a first-grader going off to school really defeats the purpose of keeping the other two virtual," Maureen said.
"It's no longer a bubble – somebody goes to school and runs the risk of bringing something back," Jeremy added. "I just don’t understand where they decided that K-2 would just go to school -- I don’t understand [the] reasoning behind some kids come to school and having options for other kids to be virtual."
CMS told us in an emailed statement, “The district is not offering a k-2 virtual option because of the foundational learning elements students experience in those grades…and thus in person learning is critical.”
"No kidding, we agree but we deserve the choice, and to put the most vulnerable -- the youngest -- without the virtual option, it feels irresponsible," Maureen said.
WCNC Charlotte checked and saw 2,667 students are enrolled in virtual classes at CMS and there’s a waiting list with almost 800 more.
The Wallaces told WCNC Charlotte they had no choice but to work with the state to officially start a homeschool for Liam and his siblings.
"We are not a family that wants to homeschool in the long run, we know how important the social aspects of it are -- and not to be dramatic, but social is only beneficial if you are alive," Maureen said. "You have to survive a global pandemic in order to be in school. They're not thinking of the realities -- yes K-2 learn better in person but the reality of the situation is they have [a] medically fragile child who doesn’t live in a bubble, they have siblings."
Wake County, another of the state's biggest school systems, is offering a virtual option for all grades -- including K-2.
Contact Michelle at mboudin@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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