New Hanover County Schools opened for in-person classes last week. WHQR checked-in with some school personnel to see how things went.
Steve Clark teaches science at Hoggard High. He says last week went pretty well, that students were good about wearing masks and social distancing, and needed only occasional reminders to keep their masks above their nose.
“I told them, I’m wearing a mask all day and talking and teaching, and after a while, I forget about it, so it’s going to be a part of what we do for the next year or so.”
Maggie Rollison is the principal at Trask Middle School. The challenge, she says, is balancing classroom instruction with the needs of kids learning at home. She says there were a few tweaks to schedules and class transitions, but her focus now is helping teachers with delivering instruction:
“The hardest part now is making sure that we’re able to fully engage students who are remote, given the managing of students in front of you also.”
Both Maggie and Steve say they would like to stay on the current plan until at least the end of the semester:
“And so now we’re kind of starting to get into a groove, and we’re hoping to find some consistency for students and staff because all of the changes can be challenging to implement.”
It’s too soon they say, to return to a normal schedule. And Steve adds, perhaps too risky. “And just even the question of bringing everybody back to school is not based on science, not based on data.”
While cases of the virus are beginning to tick back up in both the county and the state, the school system only reported three staff members and one student testing positive for coronavirus the first week back.
And if there are suspected cases, schools are ready:
“And so the nurse will then follow-up with that family and get a better understanding of what the symptoms are, to determine what the next steps would be for that specific family.”
Click here for the NHCS's spreadsheet of positive coronavirus cases.