'The right decision’: NC Gov. Roy Cooper announces all K-12 schools in state to close

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — One of the impacts the majority of the Charlotte region and nationwide are seeing from the coronavirus is no school.

Both North and South Carolina governors ordered schools to close for at least two weeks, which is unprecedented and both schools and parents are trying to figure out how to move forward.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced Saturday that all public K-12 schools in the state will close to students for two weeks and that started Monday. The decision was made to help slow the spread of the coronavirus.

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Channel 9′s DaShawn Brown said a big concern mentioned at the news conference was making sure students still have access to meals.

With the closures, Cooper started a working group to work on a game plan for safe child care for families who need it and meal services for children who rely on the meals they get in school.

Cooper suggested calling on bus drivers to still service their route by dropping off meals instead or leaving some schools open to provide meal services.

So far, many of the districts have created plans to ensure students will have access to meals, either by deliver or it will be available at certain places.

“We had a lot of school districts that were either closing or considering closing,” Cooper said.

Local businesses, restaurants and nonprofits have also said they are planning to have free meals available or delivered for students.

“We appreciate Gov. Cooper’s careful consideration of all the impacts a statewide closure of our public school system would have on educators, students, parents and the wider community. Ultimately, we think this is the correct decision, and we thank him for acting decisively in the best interest of everyone involved," said Mark Jewell, president of the North Carolina Association of Educators.

State Superintendent Mark Johnson also acknowledged the need for this move and said there is still a lot to figure out.

“Do what’s best for your students, and we will come back and worry about the funding and the calendar flexibility, the testing wavers. None of that’s important right now. Right now, what’s most important is the health of our state,” said Johnson.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools said in a statement on its website that officials “are developing plans to address these exceptional circumstances. These plans include feeding students and continuing learning using a virtual platform.”

Channel 9 has been checking with local districts, and for most of them, the plan was for teachers to report to school for a teacher workday Monday.

According to Matthews parents who spoke to Channel 9′s education reporter Elsa Gillis, it appears much of the communication to CMS families is coming from individual schools specifically. They said the communication has been great, even if there’s still a lot to figure out.

Before the decision to close schools was made, CMS officials were working behind the scenes to get students Chromebooks, collect hot spot devices for students who need that and figure out a meal situation.

CMS said it also plans to meet again to vote to return to the original school calendar. On Friday night, CMS board members made the decision to move up spring break, which was supposed to be in April.

Health officials want to reassure everyone that at this point, there is no community spread in the state.

>>> In the video below, watch the full news conference from Cooper on the impact of COVID-19 on public schools in North Carolina.

NC Gov. Roy Cooper gives update on impact of COVID-19 on public schools NC Gov. Roy Cooper gives update on impact of COVID-19 on public schools

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