Powell

Powell

<p>Board member Daryll Warren reviews documents during a Monday meeting.</p>
                                 <p>Chase Jordan | Sampson Independent</p>

Board member Daryll Warren reviews documents during a Monday meeting.

Chase Jordan | Sampson Independent

<p>During a Monday board meeting, board member Glenn Faison writes a note while reviewing board documents.</p>
                                 <p>Chase Jordan | Sampson Independent</p>

During a Monday board meeting, board member Glenn Faison writes a note while reviewing board documents.

Chase Jordan | Sampson Independent

As COVID-19 challenges continue, Sampson County Schools is moving forward with plans to have all high school students in classes for the second half of the academic year.

During a Monday meeting, the district’s Board of Education approved new re-entry goals starting Tuesday, Jan. 5, after months of remote learning for sophomores, juniors and seniors under a format known as Plan C. Hobbton, Lakewood, Sampson Early College and Union high schools will follow the Plan B schedule with different groups of students going to the building for two days, back-to-back, each week. Wednesday will be used as a remote learning day.

Due to spacing issues at Midway High, students at the school will have an “ABCD” schedule with separate groups going to classes for one day a week. Wednesday will be used as a remote learning day. Sampson’s high schools are currently under a modified Plan C schedule with freshmen attending Tuesday and Thursday, while the other days are spent learning from home. Wednesday is used for students to receive extra help or tutoring, if needed.

Interim Superintendent Dr. Stewart Hobbs presented the recommendations before final approval. Plans also includes lower grade levels. Elementary and middle schools will remain on Plan B in January.

After several weeks of students learning virtually at home, the return of pre-kindergarten through middle school grades was phased in under Plan B during September and October. Safety measures such as wearing face masks and social distancing were implemented for students, staff and teachers.

If COVID-19 conditions improve later in January, principals would like to start Plan A — five-day, face-to-face instruction. The Public Schools of North Carolina’s “Lighting Our Way Forward” allows more students to be in buildings at one time. The recommendations for all county schools were passed with a 6-1 vote. Board member Daryll Warren voted against the motion because he would like to see kindergarten and elementary students in the building for at least four days a week.

“I’m on board with the superintendent’s recommendations, but I would like to see our K-5 in the building more,” Warren stated.

For Plan A to happen later in January, Hobbs presented several COVID-19 metrics and improvements that must follow first.

“I think we need to put some metrics in place to consider instead of just saying numbers are getting better or decreasing,” Hobbs said.

Some of the listed metrics are percentage of positive tests in Sampson County below 5% for two consecutive weeks; the average number of positive tests in the county below 15 cases per day for two weeks; average daily positive tests and exposures for staff, faculty, students less than 10 cases per school and/or less than 30 in entire school district; and hospitalization for the school system is less than five.

Guidance from local health departments and statewide directives from N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper for public schools will also be followed.

Board member Kim Schmidlin had a concern about quarantines and requirements at less than 10 cases or exposures at each building. She said that it’s a low number while using one classroom as an example.

“It’s an isolated problem,” Schmidlin said. “It doesn’t mean that the rest of the school had any exposure with it. Quarantining is meant to be a protective measure. You quarantine to keep people from being positive. That’s not necessarily a negative metric.”

While talks continued, Schmidlin said she was troubled that Sampson County Schools is not moving to Plan A like other nearby districts for pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade. Some of the systems mentioned included Clinton City Schools, Pender County Schools, and Wayne County Schools. She pointed to CDC information that she said showed that young children spread the disease less than older ones. She also mentioned that Sampson’s is a rural district with smaller populations than that of Fayetteville and Pender County, which is included in the Wilmington metro area.

“I think for us, we should be able to get to that bar faster, not the last to get there,” she said.

Hobbs said he’s hopeful that Sampson’s district as a whole can get to that level.

“I think a lot of the concerns coming from faculty and staff and principals is the holidays,” Hobbs said. “Let’s put some metrics in place and hopefully we can get the elementary kids back to see where it goes.”

Board chair Sonya Powell said she feels that residents in Sampson County should follow Cooper’s suggestions and safety measures when it comes to wearing masks. She brought up statistics and the high amount of cases. Last week, Sampson County was classified as being in the “red” based on a COVID-19 County Alert System showing “critical community spread.” Lower tiers are orange (substantial community spread) and yellow (significant community spread). Recently, Sampson County dropped to the orange category.

“Maybe it’s just me, but everywhere I go, I see people without face masks on,” Powell said. “It’s just a blatant disrespect for what we know works and, as long as we have that attitude in our county, it’s going to be hard to get our kids to where they belong.

“And just saying that’s it’s OK to put them back in school … it’s really not OK because they’re seeing what adults are doing,” she said. “I don’t know if you all realize it or not, but even in our schools, we have problems with our adults wearing their face masks. We have that in our schools and children kind of follow what they see.”

Reach Chase Jordan at 910-249-4617. Follow us on Twitter at @SampsonInd and like us on Facebook.