Thread by @JoeBrunoWSOC9

CMS is meeting now. The Board may consider moving all schools to remote learning, sources have told @ElsaWSOC9. facebook.com/cmsboe/videos/…

Public comment has been going on for about 30 minutes or so. Most of the comments so far are in favor of full remote

Teacher Erika Taylor:
"With case numbers on the rise it is very concerning to go back into the building."

Melisa Klink: "It has been 270 days since some of these kids have been in the classroom and it has reached the point where we cannot catch them up."

She says CMS has taken one crisis and created another

Parent Doug Hutton pleaded to the CMS Board to keep in person instruction: "Those parents and students who wish to be fully remote have had that option since July."

Parent Trish Moody: "The learning lag they are suffering is unnecessary because there is no medical body or government institution saying keep them out of schools."

Parent Rose Herring: "Schools should be the first thing to open and the last thing to close in our community."

The CMS Board discussion and presentation about possibly going full remote is starting now: facebook.com/cmsboe/videos/…

CMS Superintendent Earnest Winston: "It is clear community spread of COVID-19 is substantial."

There are no clusters in CMS right now

Kathy Elling of CMS: "We have some transmission, we do not have substantial transmission."

Mecklenburg County Medical Director Dr. Meg Sullivan: Children under 10 are less likely to get covid and less likely to transmit it

🚨 NEW 🚨 Deputy Superintendent Dr. Matthew Hayes says staff is recommending the CMS Board vote to make K-12 remote starting on December 14. Students will remain remote until Jan 19.

Pre-K will remain in-person

Information on exams:

Superintendent Earnest Winston: "We believe it is in our best interest for the health and safety of our students to return them to remote instruction"

CMS Superintendent Earnest Winston says an increasing number of students are receiving Ds and Fs. He says like many school districts across the country, CMS is seeing an increasing number of students struggling academically

Superintendent Winston to students struggling: "All hope is not lost. If you have received a failing grade in the first quarter it does not mean you will fail the entire semester."

CMS Board member @Strain4BOE questions why CMS is going full remote if so many students are struggling and there is hardly any transmission in schools

Pre-K students are "least at risk" for contracting covid and the "greatest risk for loss of education time." That's why Pre-K is remaining in-person, per Dr. Matthew Hayes, deputy superintendent

CMS Board member @rhondalennon says the risk for K-5 students, like Pre-K, is very low and she is not seeing issues that warrant full remote learning

CMS Boardmember @rhondalennon: "K-5 does not need to be sent home, they need to be in school 5 days a week."

CMS Bd's @Sawyer4Schools says she is in favor of going full remote. She says our situation does not compare to Europe because people do not go bankrupt over health care there and while people say schools should be the last place to close, "that assumes you close everything else"

CMS Boardmember @Sawyer4Schools: "I wish our society had different priorities but they don't. So this is where we are."

BREAKING: CMS votes to move all students K-12 to full remote learning from December 14- January 15

Vote was 6-3
No votes: @rhondalennon, @Strain4BOE, @MargaretMarsh84

Exceptional children will return to remote learning unless their IEP calls for them to receive in person instruction