Schools hope to maintain in-person classes

Paul B. Johnson, The High Point Enterprise, N.C.
·2 min read

Jan. 5—GUILFORD COUNTY — Leaders of Guilford County Schools said Tuesday they intend to maintain in-person learning throughout the second semester, though they will have a contingency plan for remote learning for individual schools that have COVID-19 outbreaks.

Superintendent Sharon Contreras and other school system administrators held a press briefing with Guilford County Public Health Director Dr. Iulia Vann at the district headquarters in Greensboro on the first day of 2022 classes for traditional schools.

Contreras emphasized it's highly unlikely schools will return to remote learning for the entire school system. The district phased in classroom learning starting with elementary school students in the fall of 2020 and middle and high school students at the outset of 2021.

"We are committed to in-person learning," she said. "We will get through this."

Vann said studies have shown that children are safe at schools as long as protocols are followed, such as requiring masks. Recent studies based on the previous semester at public schools show that school districts that required masks had far fewer COVID-19 outbreaks than ones that allowed masks to be voluntary.

Contreras said it's possible that infections of teachers and bus drivers at individual schools could compel a return to remote learning at those campuses for a limited time. Guilford County Schools, like other school districts in the state and nation, is having a difficult time finding substitute teachers to fill the void when full-time educators are out, she said.

For the new semester, Guilford County Schools has set up COVID-19 testing clinics at three campuses, including T. Wingate Andrews High School for the High Point area. The clinics are for Guilford teachers and staff and students with permission from parents.

School system leaders say 80% of all its employees are vaccinated, as are 65% of bus drivers.

The Guilford County Board of Education has voted consistently to keep mask mandates for all students, staff and visitors since state legislators put a requirement in place last year for North Carolina school boards to vote on masks every month. But at last month's meeting the vote to preserve the mask mandate was 5-4.

The school board will next meet at 6 p.m. Jan. 11 at the school district headquarters at 712 N. Eugene St. north of downtown Greensboro. In response to a question at the briefing by The High Point Enterprise, Contreras said she doesn't think the school board will lift the mandate at that meeting because of the current spike in new COVID-19 infections driven by the omicron variant.

pjohnson@hpenews.com — 336-888-3528 — @HPEpaul