By Nathan Ham
A special Watauga County Board of Education Meeting is scheduled or 5 p.m. this evening at the Margaret E. Gragg Educational Center to discuss the possible reopening of school buildings to elementary school students in Watauga County.
The board will take a vote tonight to determine if Watauga County will allow elementary school children to return to the classroom.
Governor Roy Cooper announced that students in grades K-5 could return to schools for daily, in-person instruction in the classroom starting on October 5.
“We’re able to open this option because most North Carolinians have doubled down on our safety and prevention measures and stabilized our numbers. The science of lower viral spread among younger children also backs up this decision,” Gov. Cooper said during a media briefing on Thursday.
As of now, these changes only affect elementary school children. All middle school and high school students will still continue their online-only learning or their online and part-time, in-class learning that has been taking place across the state.
The Watauga County Board of Education meeting will be open to public comments, and the meeting will be streamed live online via Watauga County School’s YouTube channel.