February 4, 2021
This week, Senator Deanna Ballard (R) introduced Senate Bill 37 that would require for local school districts to provide an in-person instruction option for all special education students, and either full-time classroom instruction (Plan A) or a blend of online and in-person classes (Plan B) for all other K-12 students in North Carolina.
The legislation provides that students would still have the option to participate in remote learning if needed, and that at-risk teachers would have the option to teach remotely. The bill references CDC studies that outline increasing mental health concerns among children during the pandemic due to virtual learning, and that found that with mitigation efforts, the COVID-19 transmission risk in schools appears low. The studies show that with the necessary precautions in place, schools can open during the pandemic and that there is little evidence that schools have contributed meaningfully to increased community transmission.
The bill also references a study from the ABC Science Collaborative that confirms the CDC’s findings. The ABC Science Collaborative is an NIH-funded program with Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill that pairs scientists and physicians with school and community leaders to help understand the most current and relevant information about COVID-19. The program helps school leaders make informed decisions about returning to school using data from their own communities. The recent study from the ABC Science Collaborative found that there were no instances of child-to-adult transmission of COVID-19 reported within schools during their examination of 11 open school districts in North Carolina in the first quarter of the 2020-2021 school year.
Dr. Danny Benjamin, professor of pediatrics at the Duke University School of Medicine, testified on behalf of the ABC Science Collaborative in a Senate Education committee meeting on Tuesday. Dr. Benjamin shared that schools can safely reopen for in-person instruction if the proper COVID-19 mitigation strategies are in place, despite the level of viral transmission in the community. Much debate in the committee meeting was centered around what the data said in regards to middle school and high school students. Dr. Benjamin shared that the ABC Science Collaborative’s research shows that Plan B, a hybrid model of in-person instruction and virtual instruction, can be done safely with older students, but that there is limited data on middle school and high school students returning for full-time in-person instruction.
The bill passed with bipartisan support through two Senate committees this week and was heard today for a vote on the Senate floor. Several Democratic legislators continued to voice concerns over middle school and high school students returning to the classroom for in-person instruction, and offered several amendments to remove that requirement and to provide additional flexibilities for students with special needs. All amendments from Democrats were defeated. After much debate, the bill passed the Senate 29-16 on its second reading, but received objection for a third reading. A final vote on the bill will take place on Tuesday, February 9th.