Mrs. Vereyken's Update: Reopening Schools in NC

Mrs. Vereyken’s Update: Reopening Schools in NC

We wanted to make sure that everyone is as “up-to-date” as possible on current legislation that is in progress with regards to “Reopening Schools in NC”. On Thursday, 3/11/21, Governor Cooper signed Senate Bill 220 into law. That law did not include charter schools. This is the information that I made you aware of in last Sunday’s weekly message. On Monday, 3/15/21, the State Board of Education met and made some changes to a guidance document that directly impacts charter schools as it pertains to reopening.

Please read the information below carefully.

State Decision on In-Person Learning and How it Affects Charter Schools:

On Monday afternoon, 3/15/21, the State Board of Education met in a called meeting to discuss several issues among which was amended guidance for charter schools on reopening. Charter Schools were not included in “The Reopen Our Schools Act of 2021” (Senate Bill 220).

The State Board of Education voted unanimously to amend guidance for reopening K-12 schools in Lighting Our Way Forward guidance from NCDPI. This affects charter schools in that they are required by Session Law 2020-49 to follow the provisions of the NCDHHS Strong Schools Toolkit dated March 4, 2021 with regards to educating students in grades 6-12, meaning that they are allowed to operate under Plan B. Parents of students in grades 6-12 must be given the option of in-person instruction no later than April 1^st, 2021. Plan A is not an option for grades 6-12 charter schools.

Full remote learning (Plan C) is no longer an option for charter schools unless and only if full remote instruction “is needed to ensure the health and safety of students in a particular school or district.” As provided in the Strong Schools NC Toolkit, grades K-5 will continue to operate in Plan A.

As of 4:50 P.M. this evening 3/17/21, we received notice that House Bill 324 “Plan A for Charter Schools” has been introduced in the House of Representatives as a legislative fix to Senate Bill 220.

We will keep you updated on how these changes will affect Clover Garden School.

Implementation of In-Person instruction for Middle/High School Students will begin on Tuesday, April 6, 2021 following the completion of our school’s scheduled Spring Break vacation.

More details of how Clover Garden School will be implementing In-Person instruction for Middle/High School students will be coming soon.

We appreciate your flexibility, patience and understanding as we work as a school to navigate how to implement these new guidelines and requirements safely for all of our students and staff.

Link to Strong Schools Toolkit Guidance

Link to Updated Guidance in Lighting Our Way Forward Guidance