WUNC Capitol Bureau Chief Jeff Tiberii breaks down what Gov. Cooper's "Plan B" school reopening plan means for parents, students and teachers. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper announced guidelines on Tuesday that will allow North Carolina K-12 schools to reopen at reduced in-classroom capacity but give parents and school districts the choice to have classes entirely online.
The guidelines from Cooper and the Department of Health and Human Services allows in-person instruction if students and teachers wear face coverings and people remain six feet apart at school. The plan also gives families the choice to opt-in for remote learning.
Today, we announce that North Carolina schools will open for both in-person and remote learning with key safety precautions to protect the health of our students, teachers, staff and families. This is the Plan B that we asked schools to prepare.— Governor Roy Cooper (@NC_Governor) July 14, 2020
Districts were previously directed to draft three plans. Plan A called for entirely in-person classes, Plan B included a hybrid of online and in-person learning and Plan C promoted fully remote instruction. Cooper decided to go with Plan B statewide, though districts could elect to implement Plan C. In many cases, students are expected to rotate between in-person and online instruction in a given week.
The state Department of Health and Human Services has released a toolkit to guide teachers and parents through the upcoming changes.
Cooper also announced on Tuesday he’ll extend a current order to keep the state in Phase 2 of its reopening for another three weeks.
Today, I also announce that when the current executive order expires this Friday, July 17, North Carolina will continue to stay paused in Safer at Home Phase 2 for three weeks.— Governor Roy Cooper (@NC_Governor) July 14, 2020
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