Superintendent Dr. Houlihan and district leaders discussed plans for reopening schools at the July 14 special called Board of Education meeting.

Dr. Houlihan shared an executive summary of Keeping U Safe: 2020-2021 guidance for instruction, health and safety, which provided an outline of four key areas that were instrumental in developing the plan—instructional planning, student health, employee health and operations.

This guide was created in consultation with NC Department of Public Instruction, local and state health departments, and the Centers for Disease Control. In addition, senior leaders received input from principals, teachers, administrators and parents.

The state required all school districts to prepare plans that aligned with three models—Plan A (minimal social distancing), Plan B (moderate social distancing) and C (Remote Learning).

In addition, UCPS introduced a virtual option (Plan D) that will be offered to students in grades 2-12. The application for this option will be available via Scribbles and can be accessed through the UCPS website. The application will open Monday, July 20 and close July 26 at 11:59 p.m.

Hours before the meeting, Gov. Roy Cooper announced that all North Carolina schools would start the school year under Plan B, with moderate social distancing and in-person and remote learning options.

The Board of Education voted to implement Plan B for the 2020-2021 school year.

Under this plan:

• UCPS will operate with a 4-day weekly rotation.
• Schedules will enable a hybrid of in-school and virtual learning plans with 6-feet social distancing in classrooms and other areas of school buildings.
• Students will attend school on Monday – Thursday on their assigned day. When students are not in the school building on their assigned day, they will work in a remote learning environment.
• Friday will be a remote learning day for all students. This plan will repeat weekly.
• UCPS reserves the right, where class sizes are small and health and safety are not compromised, to accommodate more students in a school.
• UCPS will reevaluate the schedule and operations on an ongoing basis.

In the coming weeks, UCPS and schools will communicate additional details about transportation, assigned schedules, health and safety protocols, technology distribution, school nutrition services, etc.

Click on the image below to view the presentation.