Clay County students will get a little bit of face-toface, five-day instruction this school year after all. The Clay County Board of Education approved a motion that makes May 26 and June 2 — the final two Wednesdays of the school year — faceto-face learning days.
The decision was made during a special called board meeting on Thursday, April 8. "We were looking at how we could capture some instructional days back," Superintendent Dale Cole said. "There was a request from our elementary school to make the last two Wednesdays of this school year faceto-face days. That will make both of those weeks five days of instruction for our face-to-face students."
Wednesdays have been used as a remote learning day for all students throughout the school year, giving teachers needed time to create lesson plans and conduct online meetings for fully-remote learning students. Between 35-40 percent of Hayesville High School students have been fully remote at the high school level, while 20 percent of Hayesville Middle School students operated under that option.
The plan also allowed for facilities to receive a thorough cleaning in the middle of the week, in addition to one conducted on weekends. However, Cole said the majority of typical teacher instruction will be finished before those final two weeks, lessening that burden on teachers. "We're going to be in testing mode on both those Wednesdays, so there's really no need to have a remote day at that time," he said.
Hayesville Middle School and High School students only returned to four-day, face-to-face instruction in late March, after North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and state lawmakers reached an agreement on an in-person school reopening bill. The school board also approved an emergency paid sick leave extension during last Thursday's meeting. Under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, the Federal Government first enacted leave specific to COVID-19 on April 1, 2020. It was set to expire Dec. 31, prior to being extended the first time. It entitled an employee up to 80 hours of leave for someone subject to government order quarantine, a health care provider's advice to self-quarantine, an employee experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and seeking a diagnosis, an employee caring for someone subject to any of those same criteria, and employees unable to work due to closure of school or daycare.
This second extension will last through Sept. 30. Additional options available this time include leave to obtain a COVID-19 vaccine; to recover from injury; disability, illness or condition related to the vaccine; to await COVID-19 test results due to exposure or due to employer request.