Wake County School Board Votes For Different In-Person Reopening Plan

The Wake County Public School System will be taking a more conservative approach to reopening schools to students amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

During a lengthy virtual meeting on Tuesday night, the board voted to bring pre-K through third grade students back into the classroom for a a single three-week rotation that will begin on October 26, before all students in those grade levels transition to full in-person instruction on November 16, ABC 11 reports.

The board also approved a plan to bring fourth and fifth grade students back into the classroom on November 16 on a three-week rotation, which would have students attend in-person classes for one week and virtual classes for two weeks.

Earlier this month, the WCPS school board discussed a phased approach that would have all students return to in-person classes by mid-November on a three-week rotating basis. Instead, Superintendent Cathy Moore introduced revised guidelines during Tuesday's meeting, which keeps students in fourth grade and above in virtual classes for the remainder of the 2020 fall semester.

Moore said large class sizes in fourth and fifth grade, as well as rotating class periods for high school students, were reasons to keep those students from returning to in-person classes until after the fall semester.

She also said district leaders felt keeping students middle and high school teachers remote would simplify the process for teachers needing to teach both in-person and online classes during a proposed three-week rotational system.

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