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Highlands School students are back to in-person classes following a week of online instruction.
Macon County Schools resumed “Plan B” on Monday with students returning to in-person instruction at each school.
In Highlands, the continuation of Plan B means that students will be in class, wearing face coverings and socially distancing, Monday through Thursday. Friday will be a virtual learning day until further notice.
Plan B has been “almost impossible” for Macon County Schools to pull off, according to superintendent Chris Baldwin, especially at the county’s facilities with the highest student populations – Franklin High School, Macon Middle School and Mountain View Intermediate.
“With all of the things that have been put on our plate as a school district, Plan B is the hardest possible plan to carry out,” Baldwin said. “Our teachers are overwhelmed, our parents are frustrated and our students are finding the whole plan hard to manage. We are just doing the best we can.”
School began on Aug. 17, and on Aug. 28 the school board suspended in-person instruction at Franklin High, Union Academy, Macon Middle and MVI following a high number of quarantines due to students and teachers being exposed to COVID-19 positive patients.
The week of Sept. 7-11 was a virtual learning week for every school in the county with students taking classes from home via computer. According to Baldwin, Macon County has had 946 students (24 percent of the total student population for the county) opt for online-only virtual learning.
During the school board meeting on Thursday night, Highlands’ representative Stephanie McCall gave a brutal assessment of the virtual learning platform.
“I know children personally that are flat out not being educated,” McCall said. “I have had teachers report to me that students are not attending the Zoom classes or it they are, they aren’t turning in any work. Even having students in class one day per week is not cutting it.”
Baldwin implored students and parents watching the board meeting to take the online classes seriously.
“Grades will be kept for all classes, both in-person and online and those grades will count toward whether a student is promoted to the next grade,” Baldwin said. “The state has been very clear that grades for this school year will count.”
Based on the number of quarantined students and staff being reduced during the virtual only week from Sept. 7-11, the board voted unanimously to return students to in-person classes at Macon Middle, MVI and Union Academy beginning Monday. Those schools operate on an A/B alternating schedule with students being in class two days per week and learning remotely two days per week.
Due to social distancing restrictions, and staff members still being quarantined, the administration at Franklin High School requested the board allow them to send students back to class one day per week for in-person instruction based on grade level while a new plan for an A/B alternating schedule is formed.
McCall made a motion to deny that request and send students back to FHS two days per week on an A/B schedule immediately.
“I know that we all want students to be in the classroom as much as possible, but I think we need to listen to our administrators and allow them more time to come up with a schedule that works for that facility,” board chair Jim Breedlove said. “We can’t throw them into a new schedule with three days notice and tell them to figure it out.”
McCall’s motion did not receive a second and failed on the floor without a vote. Board member Tommy Cabe then made a motion to put FHS students back in class one day per week based on grade level and give school administrators two weeks to formulate an A/B alternating schedule that accommodates social distancing.
Cabe’s motion passed by a 4-1 vote with McCall being the dissenter.
On Friday, less than 24 hours after the board meeting, Baldwin’s office was notified of a positive COVID-19 test at Nantahala School. Because that facility is so small, and students share common areas throughout the day, Baldwin made the decision to close Nantahala School through Sept. 18.