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Dare County public school students can return to the classroom March 1.

The unanimous decision by the Dare County Board of Education was made at a regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday, Feb.  9, 2021.

Under the agreed-upon plan, students in pre-k through fifth grade will attend elementary school in-person, face-to-face, Monday through Thursday. On Friday, “asynchronous” learning – which means no live instruction – will be offered. Instead, a variety of classroom methods will be used.

For grades 6 through 12, a hybrid schedule will be offered. Students in these grades are divided into two groups. Cohort A will attend school Monday and Tuesday in person and virtually Wednesday and Thursday; cohort B will attend school Wednesday and Thursday in person and virtually Monday and Tuesday. “Asynchronous Friday is helpful with potential quarantine timelines, providing teachers planning, and maximizing F2F time with our current calendar,” stated one of the slides used by Superintendent John Farrelly in his presentation.

Virtual learning will be offered at all grade levels. Parents and students opting to stay in virtual learning make the commitment to stay for the remainder of the 2020-21 school term.

For k-5, parents opting for students to stay in virtual learning may or may not have the same teacher. The decision to go to face-to-face instruction must be communicated to the school’s data manager by Tuesday, Feb. 16 at 5 p.m. Dual Language Immersion students who opt-in for virtual learning will be assigned to a district-wide virtual classroom. Families with children already enrolled in virtual learning do not need to take any action, according to an email sent by Farrelly on Thursday afternoon. Parents of k-5 students not previously enrolled in virtual learning who now choose to do so need to complete the Virtual Learning Status Change Form (K-5) in Powerschool.

For grades 6 through 12, students who stay with virtual instruction will continue with the same teacher. “All parents/guardians [who want their student(s) in virtual learning for the remainder of the year] need to complete the Virtual Learning Enrollment Form (6-12) in Powerschool,” stated Farrelly’s email. A decision to opt-in to virtual instruction must be communicated by Tuesday, Feb. 16 at 5 p.m., otherwise the student will be assigned to in-person learning.

For additional information and to file opt-in decisions, a form is available online in student/parent Powerschool Parent Portal accounts. The Tuesday evening presentation has a note that the form would be emailed to Dare Schools families.

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