‘Only constant right now is change’: Questions linger after NHCS changes Plan B schedule

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — The scramble to keep up with school reopening plans never seems to end for some families.

On Monday night, the New Hanover County Board of Education decided to stick with Plan B, but switch to an A-B hybrid schedule, causing some chaos for families.

“I think the only constant right now is change,” Chris Hoskins, who has two eighth graders, said.

Hoskins says they found out about the change in plans Tuesday morning, and like many other families, only have a few weeks to prepare for the new schedule.

The school district was initially supposed to shift to Plan B on October 6 under a three-week rotating schedule. At Tuesday night’s meeting, the school board voted to switch to an AB schedule on October 12, with one group of children going to school on Monday/Tuesday and the other half going on Thursday/Friday, with three days of remote learning for each group.

“It feels like somebody has dropped the ball, or isn’t doing their job, or maybe nobody wants to take responsibility for it,” Danny Tangredi, who has a kindergartner and 4th grader, said. “I think somebody has to set the direction for it and say, ‘Okay, this is the goal, and if this is the goal, what do we do to get to that goal?'”

Like some other parents, Tangredi is frustrated to see the district change its plans once again in such a short amount of time. He says this leaves his family with a new decision to make about whether to try out this new hybrid schedule, or stick with fully remote learning.

“We were definitely sure we weren’t going to the one week on, two weeks off,” Tangredi said. “Now that they’ve gone to the AABB program, it definitely leaves something to be considered.”

Ideally, Tangredi says he would’ve loved to see the district shift to Plan A. Under the initial Plan B, with a three-week rotation, he was planning on keeping his kids fully remote, mainly for some sense of consistency.

“It just seemed like is would be very disruptive,” Tangredi said. “Plus, there’s not any information coming from the school board in terms of the process they’re going to follow. What happens if they went one week and then somebody gets COVID? Are they going to shut down the schools?”

Hoskins says he’s looking for similar guidance from the district. While he says his two kids have adapted to remote learning, he thinks they’ll get their best education in a classroom.

However, he’s left wondering what that is going to look like under the AB hybrid schedule.

“It seems like each day, we’re having to reassess what’s going on, what day are they going to start, how are they going to start and how are both my wife and I going to facilitate that,” Hoskins said.

Hoskins says he and his wife have had to alter their works schedules on a daily basis to make sure they can be there to facilitate remote learning for their children when necessary.

He says he’d also love to see his kids back in school full time, but can’t keep up with the changes to the plans.

Tangredi also wishes there was a better outline for reopening schools, instead of changing the course every few weeks without notice.

“They never give you specifics of, this is what it needs to meet in order to get to here,” Tangredi said. “It’s always very vague. To me, until it’s very specific, and you know exactly what needs to happen, they’re just going to be kicking a can around and pointing fingers.”

Families still have the option to keep their children fully remote during Plan B, or enroll in the Virtual School.