On Feb. 2, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) announced new school guidance and encouraged public K-12 schools to reopen for full-time in-person instruction. The guidance says elementary schools should reopen under Plan A, which does not require social distancing. Middle and high schools should reopen under Plan B, which does require social distancing. Districts still have to provide a remote learning option for families that choose to opt in to remote learning.
Cooper said he wants to leave the final reopening decisions to school districts. Previously, the state only permitted hybrid or fully remote instruction for middle and high school students.
Nationwide:
• Washington, D.C. has a district-ordered school closure.
• Five states (Calif., Del., Hawaii, N.M., W.Va.) has state-ordered regional school closures, required closures for certain grade levels, or allowed hybrid instruction only.
• Four states (Ark., Fla., Iowa, Texas) has state-ordered in-person instruction.
• Forty-one states leave decisions to schools or districts.
Additional Reading:
- School responses in North Carolina to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic during the 2020-2021 school year
- Documenting North Carolina’s path to recovery from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020-2021
