IBX News

The chancellor of Western Governors University in Durham is one of the latest education leaders to weigh-in on Gov. Roy Cooper's reopening plan, saying that local schools should have more decision-making authority. 

Chancellor Catherine Truitt made her comments following Cooper's decision about reopening in a report from the Carolina Journal that NC Political News published on July 17. She believes that since local school district leaders know their communities best, those educators should dictate reopening procedures, a sentiment echoed by many North Carolina officials and school boards. 

“What we are left with is trying to fit a square peg in a round hole,” Truitt told the Carolina Journal.  

Cooper and state officials initially created three options that were considered for reopening schools in the age of COVID-19 this fall. In mid-July, the governor said school districts could implement a hybrid return, meaning in-class instruction with fewer students and other health and safety measures and remote instruction when those learners were not in a brick-and-mortar classroom. He also said districts could offer full remote learning for all students. Both options ruled out a larger return of students to in-class learning. 

Truitt, who is the Republican candidate for the superintendent of public instruction, said that part of the problem with remote learning is online access. A 2019 Department of Information Technology survey found that 10% of homes do not have internet access, the Carolina Journal reported. The report added that most of the school-aged children without access are likely from lower-income households. 

Based on the 2019 survey, Truitt estimated that means 300,000 of North Carolina's 1.5 million students are impacted, the Carolina Journal reported. 

“Remote learning is a great choice for kids who have the following: quality devices, high-speed internet, and a parent who knows how the technology works and can supervise them throughout the day,” Truitt told the Carolina Journal.