Catawba County Schools

Board of Education Approves Plan for Returning to School on August 17

Here are the top 7 things you need to know from this message: 

1. Most of our students will be attending school in-person two days per week, every week, and learning remotely three days a week, every week. 

2. PreK, kindergarten, first grade, self-contained EC students, and others, will follow a different schedule. 

3. We will have an easing-in period during the first 2 weeks of school where students will only attend one day per week.

4. Students will be divided into groups based on their last name. There will be exceptions to this in order to keep families together and to accommodate carpooling wherever possible.

5. You will have a choice to either enroll your student in this combination plan of in-person learning and remote learning, or enroll your student in our 100% remote learning program through our Online Catawba K-12 Virtual Academy

6. We will offer full-day child care services for student remote days at 6 locations, as well as Quest before and after school care at all elementary schools.

7. Next Tuesday, July 21, you will receive detailed information about each of these programs, what next school year will look like, processes, procedures, and more so you can make an informed decision. You will also receive a Return-to-Learn Student Intention Form that will be required for each student indicating your choice for the 2020-21 school year 

Dear Catawba County Schools families, 

I want to thank our Board of Education, our administrators, teachers, teacher assistants, and parents for their feedback on our Return To Learn Framework for Plan B.  We know this is an extremely difficult and stressful time for employees, students, and families. Under the circumstances, I am confident that we have created a plan that meets our three priorities:  1) student and staff safety 2) child care so our teachers and parents can work, and 3) the best instructional method that we can provide while following all of the state guidance.

Please click here to view the framework that was approved by our Board of Education this evening. Overwhelmingly, parents and staff chose Option 1, which means that most of our students will be attending school in-person two days per week and learning remotely three days per week, every week. There are exceptions, including PreK, kindergarten, first grade, self-contained EC students, and more, so please take a look at the document. 

We will also have an easing-in period during the first 2 weeks of school where students will only attend one day per week. Students will be divided into groups based on their last name. There will be exceptions in order to keep families together and to accommodate carpooling wherever possible. 

We realize that you may have more questions than answers at this point, but we wanted to get this information out to you as soon as it was approved. 

Next week, you will receive information about your options for the 2020-21 school year, details about processes and procedures, transportation, and meals, plus answers to many of your questions. You will also receive a Return-to-Learn Student Intention Form that will be required to be completed for all students.
Please remember that you also have the choice to enroll your student in our 100% remote Online Catawba K-12 Virtual Academy if you do not want your K-12 student to attend in-person at all.  More details will follow next week.

Catawba County Schools will also offer full-day child care services for student remote days at the following locations:  Oxford Elementary, Mountain View Elementary, Balls Creek Elementary, Maiden Elementary, St. Stephens Elementary, and Snow Creek Elementary. These sites will be capped at 50 students per location. We will also be offering Quest Before and After School care at every elementary school. 

Between now and Tuesday when we send out details, we invite you to watch the recorded live-stream of this evening's Board of Education meeting as a lot of your questions may be answered there. Additionally, we will post the survey data on our website on Friday, so please feel free to check back. 

Again, I want to extend my gratitude to our Board of Education, staff, and parents for their feedback, patience, and continued flexibility as we all learn how to start a new school year in a completely different way from what we ever have in the past!

Sincerely,

Matt Stover
Superintendent