Petition started, protest planned in response to LCPS reopening plan
The parental reaction to Lenoir County Public Schools reopening plan has sparked a planned protest and an online petition.
“I speak as a parent that watched the entirety of the school board meeting,” said Venita Wright in a Neuse News published Letter to the Editor. “I speak as a person that understands there is no way to please everyone and that whatever decision was made would not have pleased everyone.”
Wright started a petition requesting that LCPS School Board reconsider their decision and give opportunities to choose between the hybrid Plan B or Plan C (fully remote learning).
“I have read many of the posts from happy parents and angry parents,” Wright said. “I can see both sides; however, the thing that truly bothers me about the decision made yesterday is that it took away choice.”
With economic disparities within the community, not all children have a reliable connection to the internet, and not all children will have daily access to educational support as they would with in-person learning.
“There are some students who require the classroom because of an IEP or 504 plan, there are some students who excel academically and are just classroom disciplined, there are children who will lack the love and attention that they would normally get at school because they don’t get it at home. On the flip side, there are parents who have nowhere to place their children while they work [and are] depending on school,” said Jennifer Jacobs.
Jacobs started an event through Facebook called ‘Our Children Belong in The Classroom’ to be held on Sunday, Aug. 2nd from 5 p.m. – 9 p.m. at 2017 W. Vernon Ave.
“These children need to be in class to ask questions if they have them, to get the help that they deserve and to not have to wait up to 24 hours for a response to a question that they have,” Jacobs said. “Children will have moved on and by the time they get their answers, the question and material will not be fresh in their minds anymore, and I feel that it will cause more confusion than good.”
Some parents had a more moderate reaction to LCPS’s reopening plan.
“We voted for these people to make those decisions for us, and we voted for them to make those decisions in our best interest. It’s a hard decision,” said Pastor Michelle Gooding, a mom of a third grader. “If March to May was any indication of remote learning, we are in trouble.”
Gooding agrees that children can learn remotely but expressed concerns over the social and economic divides within the community.
“I am a black, brown person,” Gooding said. “Black and brown people are three times more likely to get the virus and two times more likely to die from it; I get the logic for what the school board has passed.”
Lenoir County Public Schools voted for schools to open remotely for the first nine weeks.
“As Superintendent Williams and members of the Lenoir County Board of Education said more than once Monday night, the school district's top priority, especially during a global pandemic, is to protect the health and safety of our students and staff. Reopening school with a period of virtual instruction is certainly the most prudent approach considering the continuing growth of COVID-19 cases in the county,” said Patrick Holmes, public information officer for Lenoir County Public Schools.
Holmes went on to say, “LCPS recognizes that remote instruction presents families with several challenges, and the school district is prepared to support students and parents in those areas in which we can have an impact. LCPS and our Board of Education will continue to monitor public health trends in the county with the goal of returning to in-person instruction as soon possible.”
At the time of writing, there are 640 signatures for the online petition.
