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What Metric Will Be Considered 'Safe' To Reopen NC Public Schools?

Many large urban school districts in North Carolina, including Guilford County Schools, will start the 2020/2021 academic year with remote learning. KERI BROWN/WFDD

A vast majority of K-12 public school students in North Carolina will learn remotely when school begins on August 17. Districts are looking to state and federal officials for more guidance on when it will be safe to reopen buildings.

New state data show at least 65% of public school students will start the year fully remote because their districts went with Plan C. Beyond that, an unknown number of parents have opted for remote instruction in districts that allowed for a mix of in-person and online learning.

Gov. Roy Cooper says many districts that have taken the remote option are doing so temporarily and will reevaluate in-person learning if coronavirus spread decreases.

But districts say they don't know when they will be able to tell parents and staff when it's safe to fully reopen.

Guilford County Schools will begin the first nine weeks remotely.

Superintendent Sharon Contreras says there's a lot of pressure to figure all of this out and it's unfair to put the burden on local superintendents and school boards to determine what is an acceptable number of COVID-19 cases to reopen buildings.

“We have full departments at the state and federal level who do this for a living, who train for this, who can tell us either keep students home, keep staff home, or return to school," she says. "Instead, you have every school district in the country trying to make this determination on their own. It's not right.”

The Guilford County Board of Education will revisit reopening scenarios in the coming weeks. The state's third-largest school system serves more than 73,000 students.

For the most up-to-date information on coronavirus in North Carolina, visit our Live Updates blog here. WFDD wants to hear your stories — connect with us and let us know what you're experiencing.

*Follow WFDD's Keri Brown on Twitter @kerib_news

Keri Brown is a multi-award winning reporter and host at 88.5 WFDD. She has been honored with two regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her stories about coal ash, and was named the 2015 radio reporter of the year by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas (RTDNAC).Although she covers a variety of topics, her beats are environmental and education reporting.Keri comes to the Triad from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, where she served as the Chief Bureau Reporter for the Northern Panhandle. She produced stories for the state's Public Television and Radio programs and was honored by the West Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Association for her feature and enterprise reporting.She also served as an adjunct instructor at Wheeling Jesuit University and Bethany College in West Virginia. She worked with the Center for Educational Technologies in Wheeling, WV, and other NASA centers across the country to develop several stories about the use of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts in the classroom.Keri's journalism career began at WTRF-TV 7 in Wheeling. She worked in several roles at the station, including the head assignment editor. She also was a field producer and assignment manager at WPGH-TV Fox 53 in Pittsburgh.Keri is a graduate of Ohio University. When she's not in the studio or working on a story, she enjoys watching college football with her family, cooking, and traveling.Keri is always looking for another great story idea, so please share them with her. You can follow her on Twitter @kerib_news.

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