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Updated on March 13 with Wake County schools saying it will not close.

North Carolina’s largest school system said Friday it would remain open as pressure mounts for school districts to close as a way to try to slow down the spread of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.

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Friday, Wake County schools said they would continue a regular schedule but would stop all extracurricular activities and events starting Sunday at 11:59 p.m. That includes any school-based events before or after school, but school-based child care will continue as normal.

According to the school district: “The current decision to operate our schools on a normal schedule during the COVID-19 pandemic is based on current data that our children have not been identified as a high-risk population for COVID-19. In addition, most of our workforce is also not identified as high-risk. Following recommendations of CDC, closing for a short period of time could do more harm than good.”

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The Chapel Hill-Carrboro, Orange County and Durham County school systems on Thursday became the first North Carolina school districts to announce schedule changes due to coronavirus. The school districts plan to keep students home, starting next week.

Chapel Hill-Carrboro plans to move up spring break and use a week of online learning. Orange County will hold online classes for two weeks while leaving spring break unchanged.

“If all goes well, we will be back in school on Monday, April 6,” Chapel Hill and Orange said in messages Thursday to families. “However, we understand the severity of the current situation and there are still many unknowns. That date could be altered depending on many factors.”

Durham Public Schools said Thursday night that it also will close to students starting Monday. “This is an effort to protect our students, staff, and community, and to slow the spread of the virus,” the school system said on Facebook. “We will have more details about options for distance learning, meals for children, and other concerns (Friday) at dpsnc.net.”

Durham did not give an estimate of when it will resume classes.

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Wake schools said they would operate with flexibility in terms of student absences, senior exam exemptions and staff attendance.

“To help ensure student and staff safety, employees know that they are not obligated to report to work if they feel that they are not well or if they are in a high-risk category,” according to the website.

Closing schools could leave students hungry

Closing schools has major ramifications on students, parents and school employees. Issues include:

▪ Loss of meals for lower-income students who rely on eating at schools.

▪ Sending students to homes where there’s no one to supervise them during the daytime.

▪ Limited educational options for students who don’t have home Internet access.

▪ Loss of wages for school employees who are paid by the hour.

Many of those concerns were cited Friday by Wake to justify keeping schools open.

“Closing schools for an extended period of time has a negative impact on many parents’ ability to work and in many cases could compromise their jobs and the overall economy of our community,” Wake said Friday in its coronavirus update.

The district also cited the issue of food insecurity among students.

“When schools are closed for extended periods, many of our students do not have access to healthy food. This could aggravate an already volatile situation,” the district said.

Durham, Chapel Hill-Carrboro and Orange County said they’re making plans to help feed students during the break.

School districts asked to switch to online classes

Calls are increasing for closing schools with each report of new coronavirus cases. On Friday, state officials reported that there are now 18 confirmed coronavirus cases in North Carolina with more expected.

State officials didn’t call Thursday for school closings. But Gov. Roy Cooper advised against gatherings of more than 100 people in North Carolina, as the state sees more cases of coronavirus.

People are asking school districts to emulate the UNC System schools and Duke University in ending on-campus classes in favor of online instruction.

At least one private K-12 school is also making the transition away from in-person classes. Ravenscroft School, a private K-12 school in North Raleigh, notified families that while it has no known or suspected cases of COVID-19, it will switch to online instruction beginning Monday.

“We’re seeing both public and private organizations and universities respond to COVID-19 in a variety of ways, and at the core of the responses is the notion of ‘social distancing’ — techniques used to slow the spread of a virus or disease,” school leaders said in a message sent to families Wednesday.

“Our decision to transition to holding classes online is made with our community’s health and well-being in mind and in hopes of supporting public health officials with the notion of “social distancing” to slow the very rapid spread of COVID-19.

Home Internet access is less of a financial concern for families at Ravenscroft, where the tuition for most students this fall will be more than $20,000 a year.

Public schools have closed in other states and countries where there have been a higher number of coronavirus cases.

More than 9,000 people had signed an online petition by Thursday afternoon calling on the Wake County school system to close until the coronavirus threat is over and switch to online classes. Wake is North Carolina’s largest district, with nearly 162,000 students.

Schools wait for guidance from health officials

Wake school leaders argued Friday that it was crucial to keep schools open in this emergency. School officials said keeping schools open “is critical for the health and safety of our community.”

School officials pointed to how thousands of children of medical health professionals and public safety personnel attend Wake schools. The district said closing school would compromise the ability of their parents to provide needed public services.

Wake also cited how if schools are closed that children might be left with caregivers who might be elderly or who are at-risk.

“This increases risk of exposure between and among children and older or at-risk adults, rather than having students spend the day with children their own age and with adults who are at lower risk,” Wake said.

But Wake school leaders said Friday it’s still possible that schools may need to be closed in the future due to coronavirus.

“If an individual school or the district does not have enough staff to supervise students, we will be required to close.,” the district posted Friday. “We understand that this situation is also unprecedented, as the outcome for our community would be significant, both for our families and for staff.

“We ask parents and staff to prepare now for a possible closure. We understand that the economic, health, safety and educational implications would be significant.”

In lieu of closing, school districts have taken steps such as urging students to regularly wash their hands and to stay home if they’re feeling sick. Districts have also canceled some field trips and other events that would draw large crowds.

The Johnston County school system became the latest to announce that field trips have been canceled until further notice. The district also announced that the Johnston County Education Foundation has canceled its annual Showcase of Stars event which was scheduled for Saturday.

But Ben Williams, interim Johnston County superintendent, said Thursday there are no plans to close schools.

“Currently, experts are not recommending that K-12 schools close, but we are constantly receiving and actively seeking information from experts and staying in contact with all stakeholders to make the best decisions regarding our students and staff,” Williams said in a statement.

State Superintendent Mark Johnson said Thursday that no matter what happens, it’s going to be unpopular. They’re hearing from parents who think schools should be closed already, he said, as well as from parents who don’t know what they’ll do if schools do close.

Staff writers Will Doran and Tammy Grubb contributed.

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