Students in Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools are returning to classrooms in a hybrid model on Monday. But starting April 5, elementary school students will be meeting in-person four days a week.
After listening to public comments and considering recent state legislation mandating in-person instruction, the CHCCS Board of Education passed a motion on March 18 to continue Hybrid Plan B for middle and high schoolers and move elementary schoolers to four days of instruction with Flex Wednesdays.
The Board heard conflicting opinions about how to return to in-person instruction.
During the 30 minute public comments period, several parents spoke about the continued struggles of attending school from home, including struggles with socialization and academics.
“We are failing our kids with every decision that prevents them from receiving five days of in-person instruction,” Dawn Martin, a mother of a middle schooler and two high schoolers, said.
Martin questioned the Board’s hesitancy to return to five days of in-person instruction when the county’s COVID 19 numbers are “within CDC guidelines for a full return.”
April Mills, mother of a 2nd and 4th grade student, seemed more concerned about CHCCS’s plans for the upcoming school year.
“With three months planned in the classroom for the rest of this school year, I want to focus on next year and what this Board is considering,” Mills said. “We need our kids in school five days a week."
Many, like Mills, feel the priority of the board is not them or their kids. Lindsay Kelly wrote a public comment saying the Board has “little to no compassion for working families” and describing the recent move to Hybrid Plan B rather than Plan A — which is the switch to a traditional learning environment — as a “communication failure.”
