Cabarrus County Schools K-3rd grade to move to Plan A starting Feb. 16

CABARRUS COUNTY, N.C. (WBTV) -Cabarrus County School Board voted to send its kindergarten through third-grade classes back to school.

The board voted 5-2 at a mid-year planning session on Saturday to have those students move back to Plan A beginning Feb. 16.

According to North Carolina requirements, Plan A continues to include important safety measures like face coverings for all students, teachers and staff, social distancing and symptom screening, but does not require schools to reduce the number of children in the classroom.

The Cabarrus Association of Educators released this statement:

The Cabarrus Association of Educators is disappointed that Cabarrus County’s Board of Education has once again disregarded the recommendations of local health experts and their own established task force in order to open grades K-3 in Plan A on February 16.

It is apparent that their minds were made up before their retreat took place.

With the exception of Carolyn Carpenter and Rob Walter, the board ignored their decision-making health metrics to placate a small but vocal contingent in Cabarrus County. Teachers, staff, and parents are largely unaware of what Plan A will look like in practice, and have no reason to trust this board to make accurate and informed forecasts and decisions.

The students, parents, and staff in Cabarrus County schools deserve better consideration than to be hurled from one hastily improvised plan to the next. Students need stability, parents need to be able to plan consistently, and teachers need to be able to focus on their students’ needs and learning goals. It is likely that this willful decision to neglect the health and safety guidelines from the CDC, NCDHHS, and the Cabarrus Health Alliance also will create liability for our district, as the protections from liability by the North Carolina General Assembly in March require that the agency/school adhere to these very guidelines.

The board has made the lives of the people in Cabarrus County needlessly difficult with their constant unwillingness to listen to the experts and total lack of consideration.

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