Kindergartners and first graders back in school as OCS board discusses reopening - The Daily Tar Heel

Screen capture of the Orange County School Board of Education meeting on Monday, January 25, 2021. 

For some 5-year-olds in Orange County, the first day of kindergarten in person seems a bit unusual-there are only a few students, all of them wearing masks, sitting far away, in class Will not whisper to friends at times.

Orange County schools began reintroducing face-to-face learning this week, with the first kindergarten and first graders starting on January 25. The principal, Monique Felder, introduced the district's reopening plan at the Board of Education meeting on Monday as some teachers started to learn face-to-face. There are only two children in the class.

If you are a parent, teacher or student in the local school district, please take five minutes

"Education" by texting to 73-224. 

Students in grades 2-12 will return in the fourth quarter starting in early April. Staff must return by March 22, although they can work remotely before then.

Felder warned families and community members that the school district’s reopening plan might need to be changed during the pandemic, and encouraged the school district to develop emergency plans if the school district needs to transition to full distance learning.

"The plan can actually be changed for a dime," Feld said.

Vice principal Kathleen Dawson said that as of December 30, 58% of families in Orange County schools had signed up for courses that were taught in person through the region’s blended learning model.

As more students are expected to return to the classroom, the board of directors is considering school day logistics services to minimize the spread of COVID-19. During the meeting, board members reviewed the district’s requirements to allow students to eat in the classroom.

Dawson said that the area prefers students to eat outdoors, unless there is bad weather or the temperature is below 40 degrees. If this option is not available, the school district recommends that students eat in the classroom instead of in the larger indoor classroom (currently the default setting). Dawson said the classrooms are already equipped with air purifiers.

Board member Sarah Smylie said that air purifiers are a "benchmark" solution for allowing students to return to school, and asked whether there is a need to further increase meal times-including placing tents outdoors and opening windows in classrooms.

Smylie said: "If we end up with a more contagious virus, we can provide more protection, which is good for us."

Hillary MacKenzie, chairman of the board of directors, said the area can provide picnic tables, outdoor shelters, beach chairs, student jackets and other items for outdoor dining to minimize the possible spread of COVID-19.

The board of directors finally passed a motion to allow students to eat in the classroom when they can’t eat outdoors, but only if an air purifier is used, the classroom windows are open, and the distance between students should be kept at 6 feet the above.

Melany Stowe, Public Information and Community Engagement Officer of OCS, introduced the district's communication plan for COVID-19 cases in the school system. Starting this week, the school district will be updated to a new dashboard that will provide faculty and students with new cases, the number of clusters and cumulative positive cases, as well as data for each school and center in the district.

So far, it is planned to update the dashboard at 5 pm every Friday. School nurses will tabulate the data every day, but the dashboard needs to be updated manually. 

The board of directors dedicated to honoring Orange County school alumni at its Monday meeting

Brenda Stephens, the vice chairman of the board, read the resolution aloud, and the board unanimously approved the resolution in recognition of Dr. Corbett’s "unprecedented research and success in stopping a life threatening pandemic." .

The next meeting of the Orange County School Board of Education will be held at 7 pm on February 8.

9 a.m. to 11 a.m., February 13

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