The dance earlier this month offended some parents and students.
Sandra Darling and Jessica Castillo said whoever organized that event only invited students that fit a cookie-cutter mold. The moms didn t want the students that weren t invited to feel inferior to other students or more depressed than they might already feel due to the experiences they ve lost during the COVID-19 pandemic. We re doing it because we feel like no child should feel unworthy no matter the ethnic background, their sexual orientation or their religion, Darling said. Every child should feel love and support, not only through the pandemic but always. No child should be left behind. These kids in this school are very diverse and for one part of the school to be invited and not the rest of the school was very unjust to the kids that weren t invited.
Educators and administrators in Cumberland County Schools are revisiting plans to address the racial inequities in student discipline practices now that students are transitioning back to classrooms.
Before the pandemic, the school system discussed strategies to reduce out-of-school suspensions that contributed to what has become known as school-to-prison pipeline, which mostly affected Black students and students of color.
Parents and community leaders say suspensions only hurt students academically and don t help resolve the issues students face in and out of school.
Despite the decline in suspensions during the pandemic and transitioning back to in-person learning this year, the racial disparity in suspensions remains an issue in Cumberland County and across the nation.
When students in Cumberland County schools walk into classrooms Monday, it will be a year and a day since Gov. Roy Cooper ordered schools across the state to close because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This time, students will be wearing masks, and teachers will make sure they don t get too close to each other.
Here are five things to know about the reopening of schools.
1. How it works
Cumberland County is offering two different ways for students to attend classes: fully virtual and blended.
The virtual option allows the students to keep attending classes online. Under the blended learning format , not everyone will be in school all at once. Students will be broken up into two cohorts, A and B, that will flip-flop what days they re at the schools.