Johnston students resume in-person classes as pressure builds for NC schools to reopen

Thousands of Johnston County students returned to campus Monday for in-person instruction, at a time when pressure is building statewide for school buildings to reopen.

Johnston County had been among the school districts that had paused face-to-face classes due to the December COVID-19 spike that has made it difficult to find enough teachers to staff buildings. Despite lobbying from some teachers to stay with remote instruction, Johnston students showed up Monday for their first day of in-person classes since Dec. 14.

“There’s a lot of kids ready to be back,” Linsey Dale said Monday after dropping off her 9-year-old son, Carter, at Princeton Elementary School. “It’s exciting for them.”

The Johnston County Association of Educators had unsuccessfully lobbied school leaders to delay the resumption of in-person classes until school employees are vaccinated. Only employees who are age 65 and older have been vaccinated.

“I long to be back in a classroom with my kids,” April Lee, president of the Johnston County Association of Educators, said at a Jan. 20 news conference. “I want so badly for this to be over, but it’s not. And when we return to face-to-face instruction, we all deserve a safe environment to teach our kids.”

Johnston made changes for this semester, including only giving most students two days a week of in-person classes. Elementary students had gotten five days a week of in-person classes last semester.

Johnston is having PreK students and special-education students in self-contained classrooms attend in-person classes four days a week. Special-education students have had some of the most difficulties taking their classes online during he coronavirus pandemic.

Like other districts, Johnston is offering a virtual option for students who don’t want in-person classes. Johnston is North Carolina’s seventh-largest district, with around 36,000 students.

Push to reopen school buildings

Even though Johnston students are back, many other North Carolina public school students are still only receiving online courses. Wake County has suspended in-person learning through at least mid-February. Durham Public Schools has canceled it for the rest of the school year.

Around 100 people, many of them parents with children, rallied outside the Executive Mansion on Saturday calling for Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper to take action to reopen schools. Many in the crowd were from Wake County.

State Senate Republican leaders say they plan to file legislation soon that would require school districts to provide in-person instruction. GOP lawmakers have cited studies showing that schools can safely reopen if they follow rigorous safety measures such as maintaining social distancing and wearing face coverings.

Shane Brown, 46, a parent at Princeton Elementary, said Monday that keeping students at home is having a negative psychological impact on students. Brown, who is also a nurse at an intensive care unit, said he doesn’t think the health risk for teachers is that great from school reopening.

“I think that the risk to children keeping them at home is greater than the risk of teachers being around kids,” said Brown, whose 6-year-old daughter, Emma, is in kindergarten. “You’ve got to take a look at the greater good.”

‘Teachers need some grace’

Dale, the parent, says children like her son are glad to be back in school because remote learning isn’t working.

“It’s hard for a 9-year-old to stay focused by looking at a little 8-inch screen all day,” Dale said. “He’s not learning. I’ve told my husband he’s falling behind because this is just not working.”

But Dale, the PTA vice president at Princeton Elementary, said teachers are being unfairly criticized by some people. She said teachers are doing the best they can to try to make remote learning work.

“These teachers need some grace,” said Dale, 28, a real estate agent “They need some praise. It’s hard on them too.”

Staff writer Lucille Sherman contributed to this story.