School Board picks Plan B despite questions, concerns voiced by leadership team

Despite Wayne County Public School Interim Superintendent Dr. James Merrill making it clear that he and his team were not prepared to offer a clear path forward for a Plan B school reopening decision to be made during Monday’s Board of Education meeting, the board, in a 5-2 vote that wasn’t even on the agenda, adopted the hybrid back to school model anyway.

In fact, most members of the Wayne County Board of Education said they came to the meeting knowing which plan they were going to choose — with or without survey results, testimony from health experts and answers to questions one Central Office leader said were keeping her “up at night.”

Before that vote was called, the board listened to Tamara Berman-Ishee outline the district’s work on Plan B, including challenges and concerns that go along with that choice.

The assistant superintendent for teaching and learning also discussed findings gleaned from a committee formed to discuss the Plan B option. That gathering included teachers, community members and stakeholders.

The bottom line, she said, is that there are many, many concerns that go along with a Plan B reopening, and Central Office staff are working to come up with workable solutions for each one.

But to get to an opening, and to get it right, is a challenge, and one that will likely evolve as the district gets children back in school, Berman-Ishee said.

She mentioned a growing number of districts that had opted to start their respective school years with Plan C to “ease into Plan B later.”

“I think part of the reason that’s happening is that’s there so much to work out to be able to effectively do Plan B. It’s not as easy as the bullet points I put in front of you,” she told the board.

At the conclusion of her comments, Berman-Ishee outlined for the board just a few of the yet-unanswered concerns that are facing the district.

“So, I wanted to go through a short list of my questions to you. You’re not going to answer these now. We’re not going to figure any of this out right now,” she said. “But this is part of what the difficulty is in making Plan B happen on a very short timeline and why I think more and more of these districts are going and moving to open, at least, in Plan C.”

They included:

• Remote learning: “The decision about which day of the week is going to be the remote-only day has been tossed around a lot. People want to know, ‘Why is it Wednesday? Why isn’t it Friday? Why isn’t it Monday? Why are K-8 doing it and the high school kids are doing it the same way even though their schedules are different?’ And there’s a whole lot to that to be discussed and figured out.”

• Cleaning and the remote day: “Looking at that all-remote day, what does it look like? Where will the teachers be on the remote day while the sanitation crews are in the building trying to fumigate or whatever it is they have to do? Can they be in the building while those buildings are being cleaned?”

• Teacher workdays: “What does the length of the face-to-face day look like in Plan B? I don’t think we can reasonably expect teachers to teach a full academic … day with children all day and then eat a snack and teach a remote day all night. That’s unreasonable. Our teachers have, what, a seven-and-a-half-hour day? They work a seven-and-a-half-hour day. We can’t ask them to work a 12-hour day. So that means, potentially, shortening the instructional day. But you can’t shorten it so much that it becomes not a useful day. It’s going to take longer to bus kids in, to do health screenings when they get there, feed them breakfast and lunch in their classrooms. If we shorten the day on top of that too much, then why did we bother to have them come in face to face? … We haven’t figured that out.”

• What will teachers do with their children: “We talked about teachers being able to have their younger children participate in four-day a week face to face because teachers and staff are working for us, but what is that age span? In the draft, it says kindergarten to fifth or sixth grade, but we’ve heard back from teachers who’ve said, ‘I’m not comfortable leaving my seventh- or eighth-grader at home all day long four days a week alone while I’m at work.”

• Can they bring their children to school: “On the remote day, where are teachers’ kids and staff members kids on the remote day? If teachers and staff are in the buildings working, are they allowed to bring their children with them and look after their own children or do we create some place where the kids would go and our instructional assistants are watching them? We don’t know.”

• Do we have enough teachers for virtual academy: “We have questions about staffing the remote program. We need to have enough of a teacher match to do the number of students who are interested in doing that program?” Note: Thus far, with more than a week until the registration deadline, more than 2,100 students are enrolled in the district’s Virtual Academy.

• Where will virtual teachers be based: “Our expectations for our virtual program teachers, where are they working? If they’re coming to buildings, we have to have space in buildings, but if we’re simultaneously doing Plan B, which means our buildings and classrooms are full with teachers and Plan B face-to-face students, where are those virtual teachers going to be working? We don’t have an endless amount of classroom space.”

• Mask rules and enforcement: “Then there are all the mask rules. Who’s in charge of that? Are there going to be penalties for a non-E.C., non-special needs child who refuses to wear a mask? What happens to that child? What happens to a teacher who takes off their mask? What’s the expectation?”

And those are just a few of the questions, Berman-Ishee said.

“It keeps me up at night. It’s probably not going to keep you up at night, but I believe that’s why we’re seeing more and more districts open the year with Plan C,” she said. “We’re tasked with figuring all of that and much more out. That’s going to be a hard ask.”

There were other concerns noted, too.

Like a question about the mask mandate — and whether students with special needs would be exempt from having to wear a face covering.

Board attorney Richard Schwartz said that as it stands right now, any child in the school building must have a mask on.

That could be problematic for Exceptional Children or others who have health conditions that make wearing a face mask difficult if not impossible.

Exceptions, Schwartz said, would have to be addressed “on a case-by-case basis.”

Board members also asked about surveys conducted in the district asking parents and teachers about their thoughts on reopening plans.

Dr. Yvette Mason, assistant superintendent for human resources, said the district has heard from about 1,700 of its 2,753 employees. But when asked about the results, Mason said she did not know the breakdown of how many of those respondents were teachers and which schools were represented.

She did say, however, that 50.9 percent of the respondents said they would not apply for a Virtual Academy teaching position, which is being planned, under Gov. Roy Cooper’s mandate, for those families who choose not to send their children back to school. It was noted that more than 2,100 students have already been registered for that remote option with more than a week left before registration closes.

Board member Len Henderson, who ultimately voted against the motion to choose Plan B, asked that the board hear from other experts — including health professionals — before taking its final vote, which was set for next week.

But after chairman Chris West began the discussion about dates to access the additional information and tried to arrange a July 29 vote, board vice chairman Jennifer Strickland insisted that a vote be cast Monday — partially because she was not available the last week of the month and wanted to have a say in the reopening plan and also because, she said, it was time to make a decision.

Strickland had already told the board that she would not be sending her children back to school under Plan C, which is remote learning, saying she couldn’t “have my high-schoolers preparing for college with what we have put out there.”

She also said that the district needed to get “these students back in the classroom as soon as possible.”

But when she called for the vote, and announced that she was voting for Plan B and that nothing was going to change her mind, she added that she was prepared to accept delays or changes based on whatever Central Office staff found as it continued to put its Plan B guidelines together.

She added that she did not need any more information, rejecting Henderson’s call for visits from health professionals and the county regarding broadband availability across the county.

“I am ready to make this decision today,” Strickland said.

She added that the school board needs to consider more than just the educational needs of the students, agreeing with fellow board member Ven Faulk, who read a letter he received from a local pediatrician outlining concerns about children’s health in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pediatrician, whom Faulk did not name, stated that consequences of the shutdown for children included 9- to 15-year-olds responsible for watching their siblings; weight gains of as much as 30 pounds; anxiety and depression; and increases in risk-taking behavior.

The pediatrician also said that she was having trouble dealing with online learning — and facing a learning curve of her own, especially after a long day at work.

It is a concern for many Wayne County families, and it is a concern for his own children, Faulk said, who are upset at the prospect of not returning to school.

“I believe that our children need to be present in the classroom this fall,” Faulk told the board

Strickland emphasized that making a choice now would allow the district to move forward on ironing out details — specifically how many students and teachers would be returning under the Plan B model.

“For every mother and father and guardian out there, we’ve now said we’re going under Plan B, now you decide what’s right for your family. Is it right for your family to go under virtual? Great. We’re going to put the teachers in place to make it happen. If you’re an educator and you can’t come to the building because you are honestly fearful or your honest health is at risk, we’re going to pair you up with that virtual academy. Let’s make that decision and move forward.”

And Strickland said she knew there would be fallout from the vote, just like there was when the district decided to change the graduation plan.

“Decisions have to be made and they’re not always pretty. It reminds me very much of the graduation decision. I was accused of wanting people to die. No. I want you to be an adult and make the decision that’s right for your life. And if you can do something or you can’t do something, you make a decision and you tell us so we can make decisions.”

Board member Wade Leatham, who announced during the meeting that he had contracted and recovered from COVID-19, and was out for nearly 30 days because of it, agreed with Strickland.

“We could information ourselves to death here,” he said.

He said that pushing the decision farther and farther down the road would make it more difficult for families.

“The entire community needs time to prepare,” he said.

Leatham also said “science says COVID is not affecting children” the same way it is affecting adults.

He added that WCPS officials and the board need to think about more than just the virus.

“I am thinking about the kids, not just the COVID situation,” he said.

Board member Dr. Joe Democko also indicated that he would be voting for Plan B.

“I say we get back to school,” he said, adding that visits from the officials Henderson asked for were not necessary.

“They are going to have to give me some real information to change my mind,” he said.

Board member Pat Burden spoke up, however, adding that while she was leaning toward Plan B, that she felt that Henderson’s questions should be answered and that everyone should “feel comfortable” with the decision.

She said she voted against the motion to approve Plan B because of the push, and last-minute change to vote when she came under the impression Monday was just about having a discussion. (Note: The board had to modify the meeting agenda to allow for the vote.)

Board members noted that despite the vote, plans could still change based on additional information, but choosing Plan B Monday was a “starting point” and they felt the need to give Central Office a goal to meet.