Public Education In NC – Contact Information

September 17, 2020 – Coronavirus executive order amended.

NC Governor Roy Cooper is amending his stay at home executive order under Phase 2.5 to allow elementary school aged kids to go back to in classroom learning at their schools full-time starting October 5, 2020.

However, the governor also stated that individual school districts will be allowed to either follow his amended decision, or remain at the current Plan B or Plan C districts are working under now.

In short, even though the governor says they can go back to in-person classes, an individual school district can say no and keep 3 day virtual classes and 2 day in-person instruction going.

Furthermore, the NC governor also stated that for districts who decide to open elementary schools full-time, parents can still choose to keep kids under virtual learning. The governor stated that for many families who have elderly persons in the home, the concern for children to bringing the Coronavirus home is still a real concern.

On October 5, 2020, for those districts that open back up for elementary schools, screening, masks, social distancing, and increased cleaning will still be in place.

Governor Cooper noted that the improving Coronavirus numbers in NC and evidence that elementary school aged children having lower likelihood of infection and transmission fueled his decision to amend his Coronavirus executive order.

Governor Cooper said that for all public education schools under the K-12 umbrella, to include pre-K, students at primary schools, middle schools, and high schools, he will continue to listen to medical experts on their opinions and guidance in re-opening these K-12 institutions if data suggests they can open safely.

Cooper’s primary 2020 challenger Lt. Governor Dan Forest issued a statement that he wants all schools re-opened.

September 2020

Since on-campus classes started on August 10th, ECU officials say that exactly 1,084 students have tested positive for the Coronavirus making it the first university in NC to surpass the 1,000 cases mark. However, state officials say that UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State University should cross the 1,000 student mark by next week if the current trend continues.

Officials at all 3 universities speculate that off campus mass gatherings at fraternities and sororities have lead to these numbers.

Last week, Governor Roy Cooper upgraded restrictions to 50 people allowed at mass gatherings outdoors and 25 people indoors.

ECU police say they have shutdown parties on-campus as they happen.

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August 28, 2020

Carteret County Schools Superintendent Dr. Rob Jackson confirmed that the local health department is following two individuals, along with anyone they may have been in close contact with, who are now confirmed to be positive for Coronavirus.

The K-12 administrator did not say whether the individuals are teachers, other staff, students, or parents.

He added that the local system in the county continues to act upon strict social distancing, hand washing, masking, cleaning of schools and buses, and daily wellness checks before entering a public education building or bus.

NEXT: NC Independent Colleges lobbyist give recommendations on closures at state universities and community colleges.

August 2020

Officials with NC Independent Colleges And Universities (NCICU) and the NC Community Colleges system recommended to legislators that individual institutions should make the decision to revert from campus classroom learning to 100% virtual amid several cluster outbreaks of the COVID-19 Coronavirus at several higher learning schools in the state.

These recommendations come after the Raleigh News And Observer wrote an article questioning if it is time for all colleges and universities in the state to close on campus learning.

Lobbyist with the aforementioned groups stated that each school should be allowed to make those decisions based on their own metrics, science, and investigations rather than the system closing all in classroom instruction.

August 23, 2020

Following in the footsteps of the Chapel Hill campus and at NC State University, both ECU and UNC-Charlotte ended all classroom classes in favor of 100% virtual classes given the recent cluster outbreaks of Coronavirus at 4 universities in North Carolina.

Most of these outbreaks happened in residence halls, although several were related to greek life activities at sororities and fraternities.

Officials at all schools said that classes will be halted while students move out of dormitories.

There is still no word from the NC Governor if public education K-12 schools will revert to Plan C from Plan B in the wake of these incidents.

August 20

NC State University officials announced today that all undergraduate classes will revert to 100% online after 1 or 2 clusters of positive coronavirus outbreaks happened in close proximity to the college. UNC-Chapel Hill made the same decision after a similar outbreak on the campus a few days ago and there is no word from ECU officials after their campus had one outbreak.

As of today, there is no word from Governor Roy Cooper regarding reverting from Plan B to Plan C because of these decisions at the college, or if these clusters at local universities can be attributed to poor decisions from students off-campus where there are no mandates by university staff.

August 19, 2020

Following a trend of colleges and universities across the nation, and on the heels of UNC-Chapel Hill and East Carolina University ( ECU ) clusters, NC State University officials have now confirmed that there is a cluster of new COVID-19 Coronavirus infections (5+ or more) in off-campus housing and with 8 members of the greek life system.

It is unclear if the members of the greek life system is the cluster in off-campus housing.

The announcement by NC State University officials comes exactly one day after the Chapel Hill campus reverted to 100% online classes after attempting in-classroom learning. There is still no word if NC State University officials and ECU officials will make an announcement reverting to 100% online classes, or if the entire UNC system will go fully online.

Additionally, with these clusters popping up just one week in to the 2020 / 2021 academic year at 3 major universities in North Carolina, we can expect some word from Governor Roy Cooper on whether NC public education K-12 schools will revert to Plan C from Plan B given these new cases.

As you recall, Plan A is 100% in school attendance, Plan B is 50% attendance with 3 days being virtual, and Plan C is 100% virtual.

August 2020

East Carolina University ( ECU ) officials in Greenville NC reported that are investigating and responding to one cluster outbreak of Coronavirus at a resident hall on-campus.

There is no word if ECU officials will take the same course of action that UNC Chapel-Hill officials took in reverting to 100% online classes for the 2020 / 2021 year.

August 2020

On Monday, August 17, 2020 UNC Chapel-Hill officials made the decision to revert to 100% online classes instead of in classroom learning after several outbreaks of new Coronavirus cases spiked in several residence halls and at one fraternity.

It is unclear if this will avalanche in to the entire UNC system reverting to 100% online classes because of the outbreak at Chapel-Hill, or if each university in the system will act independently and locally based on either no new cases or increased cases.

July 2020

New Superintendent Dr. Rob Jackson begins his leadership role in Carteret County NC after the resignation of Mat Bottoms in 2019. Dr. Jackson will lead the county in dealing with the COVID-19 Coronavirus, be tasked with upgrades and repairs to local schools, funding or dismantling of the early college MaST program, and begin the process of planning for the potential need for new schools as the population in this Eastern NC community is projected to double in the next ten years.

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April 2020

Once again, and in the face of the Coronavirus, our local school administrators, teachers, and staff members at every educational facility in Carteret County has shown an incredible level of perseverance in meeting the learning needs of area youth.

As they were tested during Hurricanes Florence and Dorian, and then with budget issues at the state level, and now with the COVID-19 pandemic, administrators, teachers, teaching assistants, nutritional services, school nurses and psychologist, and other staff, our local public education apparatus is clearly very healthy and functional and being driven by people who have a true genuine desire and need to help our local youth excel in life.

Literally, within a 24 hour period in March of 2020, administrators and teachers had to pivot from traditional schooling to teaching and supporting students from afar through online learning. And, from all appearances, it seems to be working even with a few glitches here and there.

None of us really know what to make of this Coronavirus pandemic and what the future holds. Questions still remain on whether the virus will continue full steam ahead until there is a vaccine, if it will mutate in to another strain we don’t have a vaccine for, or whether the culmination of flu and Coronavirus cases will necessitate the need to deliver educational services online.

As parents, school board members, and even students in our local system, we need to continue to work closely and be understanding that this unprecedented event will present challenges that no teacher or administrator has ever dealt with before. As parents, we need to understand our role in looking over the shoulders of our children to make sure they are opening their Chromebooks and doing work. We need to make sure that the funding is there to put together a virtual online learning system that maintains the same level of educational needs that traditional schooling offers.

By clicking the title, please consider using our discussion form on this article to tell us about your local school staff and their determination to to persevere.

NC education discussions in the county focusing on security, crisis prevention for students, SRO funding, and grants to reach these goals for public educators, administrators, students, and parents.