Like school districts across North Carolina, Henderson County Public Schools is awaiting the state’s determination of how its schools can safely resume education in August.
In the meantime, HCPS wants its community to be aware of the current work they’ve been doing to prepare students, staff, and families to return to learning under a variety of conditions.
In response to the NC State Board of Education and the NC Department of Public Instruction’s release of Lighting Our Way Forward: North Carolina’s Guidebook for Reopening Public Schools on June 8, HCPS organized a Re-Entry Task Force made up of teams from throughout the district that lead workgroups of educators, campus — and district-level staff from many departments.
Workgroups are currently addressing operations and scheduling, instruction, student and employee safety, emotional and mental support, and communications, in order to formulate a set of models for various potential scenarios. These models are based on existing interim guidance from the state, which include three plan options:
- Plan A is the least restrictive reopening model and requires minimal social distancing. It most closely resembles a traditional start to school.
- Plan B adds additional restrictions for social distancing and requires that no more than half a school’s student body may report to campus on any given day. Students would access instruction through remote learning on the school days they would not report to campus.
- Plan C suspends all in-person instruction, meaning our district would continue to utilize remote learning for all students.
Although the governor has yet to finalize his recommendations, HCPS wants to keep the community informed of the scenarios that the Re-Entry Task Force members are working to develop. Please stay tuned for additional, increased communications regarding this process, throughout which HCPS will be seeking stakeholder feedback. These will include regular R2L Weekly updates published each Thursday; individual updates will be linked on our Return to Learn webpage that launches Thursday, sent to families through SwiftK12 email and phone reminders, and shared on social media.
Additionally, HCPS understands that many of its families are concerned about an in-person return to school, regardless of the governor’s ultimate decision. Please know, if Governor Cooper decides North Carolina schools should utilize Plan A or Plan B, HCPS is still committed to offering a remote learning option for students who wish to complete all their assignments from home. More details on this option will be released soon, pending the governor’s decision.
Visit the Henderson County Public Schools website for additional information.
Prepared by Henderson County Public Schools.