Begins after Spring Break on April 12
Swain County Middle School and High School students will be returning to a schedule of classroom instruction four days a week beginning Monday, April 12, joining the district’s elementary schools on modified Plan A with Wednesdays still to be used for remote instruction.
School board members in a special called meeting held Wednesday evening, March 17, unanimously supported the decision. District leadership has been in favor of more in person instruction but couldn’t extend it to sixth-12th until a decision was made at the state level.
Earlier this month, Senate Bill 220 the Reopen Our Schools Act of 2021 was adopted in both houses and approved by Gov. Roy Cooper, paving the way for higher grades to return.
The district brought elementary schools back to a Plan A schedule as early as was possible at the beginning of the semester while middle and high school students remained on a modified Plan B schedule where students rotate two days a week.
Although there was some interruption in the plans due to a community outbreak of COVID-19 early in the semester, Swain County’s active cases have returned to low numbers. Waiting until after Spring Break gives the district and the students some time to adjust before the schedule change and for a second round of staff to have their second vaccinations.
Prior to adoption, the board heard feedback from a survey among school staff. Superintendent Mark Sale also spoke with juniors and seniors at the high school before making the recommendation.
Sale reported out of 98 responses, 54% of the teachers surveyed said they were very or somewhat comfortable with moving back to Plan A for at least four days a week at their schools.
“The students I spoke with believe there could be some academic benefit but they also want a sense of normalcy, especially the seniors, and this might provide that some for them,” Sale told the board.
The hesitations expressed including adjusting to a schedule change late in the year and concern about COVID exposure and the logistics around lunch at the high school.
School staff has all been given the opportunity to receive the free Moderna vaccine through Swain County Health Department.
School board chairman Gerald McKinney said he is more confident in making the schedule change now that all the staff has had the chance to get the vaccines.
Students 16 and older who are working can get on the list to receive a free Pfizer vaccine from the regional clinic hosted at Western Carolina University.
The district is confident that students will be able to maintain three-feet of distance but will strive for six-feet as much as possible. All the other protocols will still be in place.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control just announced a change on Friday for a minimum of three feet from six feet of distance in school settings.
“We’ll be using the same mitigation procedures we’ve been using all year long and this is giving us an opportunity to redouble our efforts,” Sale said in a follow-up interview.
Both high school principal Sonya Blankenship and middle school principal Tim Kerr said they were in support of the idea but expressed the challenge of students complying by making sure they keep their noses covered by the face masks.
“As Mr. Sale referenced, we have some staff with concerns but the majority are ready to see them back and even those ones with concerns are ready to dive in and do what’s expected of them,” Kerr said. “We all know academically 4 days a week in person is better than 2 days a week. There’s some logistical concerns we will have as many as 24 in some classroom— we’re looking at 3’ is what look at for distancing. The mask issue, the students have done fairly well over the course of the year, but that is becoming harder that messaging. If you’re asking me to choose, I think the benefits of coming back outweigh the drawbacks.”
Sale addressed the need for continued diligence in the community taking precautions to prevent the spread especially with more students returning to school more often.
“Just like the community, we have a tendency to fall into complacency some because of Covid fatigue,” Sale said. “Whenever your spread rate diminishes, we begin to think we have this whipped, and we can’t do this yet even with the immunizations we have.”
Around 20% of the county has at least gotten its first dose of the vaccine.
For the most part, the feedback the district has received from parents is a message of wanting students to be in classrooms more. Remote learning, Plan C, is continuing to be available for students who choose that instead.
It’s not just for academic reasons that Sale recommended the schedule change. The schools also serve an important role of providing social emotional support for students.
“In my opinion, it’s time for us to bring our students back to school and give them the opportunity to have as much of a normal experience as they can have this year,” he said to the board. “It will also give us an opportunity to be a second group of influential and caring individuals in the students’ lives, and that is a significant need right now.”
He pointed out that Swain County DSS reported an increase of 15% in the need for child welfare services this past year.
“I believe we need to be Swain Family, and in order for us to do that, I believe the best route is for us to come back to school starting April 12 four days a week and use Wednesdays as we are now and finish up the school year, that is my recommendation,” Sale said.