Cumberland School Board Jumps the Gun, Leaves Kids at the Starting Line

This morning, the Cumberland County Board of Education voted to keep all school children at home for the remainder of 2020. The vote was 6-3.

They should have waited a day.

At 3:00 p.m., Governor Cooper held a press conference. He announced that he was relaxing his current order. Now, any county in North Carolina can fully open schools for elementary age children.

I repeat: elementary schools can open fully under “Plan A” in North Carolina.

But plan A does not require schools to reduce the number of children in the classroom. Students in grades 6-12 still must operate only under Option B, which is partially in person and partially remote or Option C, which is all remote.
— Governor Roy Cooper (@NC_Governor) September 17, 2020

Cumberland Ignores the Science

The reasons given by Gov. Cooper and Mandy Cohen for the change:

younger children are less likely to spread the virus
younger children do not suffer as many significant health effects from the virus
there has been no difference in community spread in counties that have already opened up in-person learning

I'm proud of our work to get to this point, and know that a number of school districts are moving soon to in-person instruction under Plan B with strong safety measures. We anticipate more will join them.
— Governor Roy Cooper (@NC_Governor) September 17, 2020

Apparently, none of this “science” matters to the Cumberland County Board of Education. We are stuck in “Plan C.”

It’s possible that unless our school board re-evaluates this decision, we will be one of a few counties left without any in person education.

Sub-Standard Learning

If you want to know why virtual learning is an inadequate substitute for a real classroom, please watch this video of a virtual meeting that occurred this morning:

Notice that several participants can’t get their cameras to work.

Notice how hard it is to hear and figure out who is talking.

Notice the confusion and the difficulty controlling the meeting.

It’s hard to follow isn’t it?

Now imagine these people are six years old.

6 responses

marshallwaren says:

September 17, 2020 at 4:26 pm

These people are definitely technologically challenged

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Kelly Saxton says:

September 17, 2020 at 5:28 pm

If you are district 6, please consider voting for Nathan Warfel! He has 3 kids who actually attend CCS and he is frustrated like all the other parents! He will no doubt be a positive change to the school board. He is also open to answering any questions if you reach out to him.

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Dan Travieso says:

September 17, 2020 at 6:46 pm

An absolutely shameful and irresponsible decision by the Cumberland County School Board. Our children deserve better.

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Joey Douglass says:

September 17, 2020 at 10:17 pm

I am appalled at the decision of our Board of Education. This is not in the best interest of our children. I call for the resignation of each Board member who voted against our children returning to school. You clearly do not have the best interest of our children in mind. The statistics support a return to school and this Board refuses. Those who voted against need to resign immediately. Thank you. Joey Douglass

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- Debra Yeatts says:
  
  September 19, 2020 at 10:37 am
  
  Children need to be in school!!! Those children that don’t have support are falling behind!!!
  
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Jessica Rysls says:

September 20, 2020 at 10:59 am

I got three kids in CCS last year they didn’t miss a day this year they can’t join their class half the time and my middle schooler every time she tries to join her classes all she gets the hole time is ur not in this class ur not in this class she has yet to get in her classes for 3 weeks now and they won’t help is r nothing this is to much for anyone and they changer the laerning platform every week so as soon as they get use to getting in on thing they get today we’ll be using something different tommorow and then we got to go back and lean the new platform over it’s frustrating and ridiculous r kids deserve a real education and these computers are not it.

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