Staffing a hurdle for Haywood summer school

from Smoky Mountain News | June 2, 2021

Home sales double over 2020

BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER

Students in Haywood County will not be provided normal bus transportation for the robust summer school program intended to address learning loss during the Coronavirus Pandemic.

In April, the North Carolina General Assembly passed the Summer Learning Choice for NC Families, an “act to establish school extension learning recovery and enrichment programs in each local school administrative unit to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on at-risk students.”

The bill lays out specific requirements for the summer school program, that are much more involved than the summer school of years past. Districts are required to provide 150 hours, or 30 days of instruction over the course of the summer.

This year’s summer program will look more like the regular school year by including all grades K-12, regular school transportation, meal service for each day of instruction and a period of physical activity.

This is not an easy undertaking for districts that have been stretched thin, working on an almost constantly changing learning plan over the past year and a half. Haywood County in particular is having trouble recruiting enough staff for its summer program.

“Our folks are exhausted and to add a full-length summer on, is asking a lot of them, and they need a break,” said Trevor Putnam, assistant Superintendent for Haywood County Schools.

According to Angie Dills, Chief Academic Officer at Jackson County Schools, and Josh Lynch, Director of Curriculum at Macon County Schools, neither Macon or Jackson County Schools are experiencing similar staffing issues. Both counties will provide regular bus transportation to and from school, and both counties have enough teachers to staff a full summer program. Both counties are providing competitive pay for all staff contracting to work the summer program.

“This could be problematic for some folks for sure,” said Haywood County School Board Chairman Chuck Francis. “And it’s just a sad situation that we’re not able to find employees or bus drivers to fill the need. The whole situation is difficult nationwide, and we’re feeling it here as well. We’re continuing trying to work on it.”

The legislation laying out guidelines for the 2021 summer school session in North Carolina says schools must provide transportation services to the school facility housing the program, provided in accordance with the Plan A requirements for transportation established in the StrongSchoolNC Public Health Toolkit (K-12) issued on March 24.

In order to make the summer school program function with staff available, Haywood County Schools will provide transportation to and from a few pick-up locations around the county, to the schools where instruction will take place, instead F