On Thursday, DHHS released an updated version of the StrongSchoolsNC Public Health Toolkit, which no longer recommends individual contact tracing and exclusion from school of asymptomatic students and staff after an identified exposure (page 15). DHHS staff explained that it is important for schools to focus on strategies that are most effective for preventing the spread of COVID-19 like vaccines, boosters, testing, and masking. Contact tracing has proven to be a less effective tool because of several factors, including:

• Emergence of variants with shorter incubation periods and more rapid transmission
• Most contagious periods prior to symptom onset and during the first few days of illness
• Large number of asymptomatic and less severe cases
• Many infections are never identified by public health agencies because persons with asymptomatic or mild cases may not get tested as well as the increasing use of over the counter at-home tests
• Low proportion of all infections being detected or reported to public health during time when people are in their most infectious time period

The updated Toolkit clarifies that schools should still notify potentially exposed students or staff, and that notification can be done on an individual, group, or school basis (see table on page 16). Additionally, schools should implement policies that allow asymptomatic students and staff to stay home from school for five days after an exposure if they choose to do so. It is recommended that students and staff who have been exposed to COVID wear a mask for 10 days after exposure and get tested five days after exposure. Local public health officials continue to have the authority to implement more restrictive policies than what is recommended by DHHS.

These updates to the Toolkit are effective February 21. Click here for DHHS’s press release on the updated Toolkit.

The Toolkit did not make changes to masking recommendations, which say that all schools should require all children and staff to wear masks indoors in areas of high or substantial transmission, as defined by the CDC. Currently, every NC county is labeled as having high rates of transmission.

Following the release of the updated Toolkit, House Speaker Tim Moore released a statement saying that the updates did not do enough. “We must do more to protect our children from further learning setbacks and the other consequences of keeping these (mask) mandates in place.” The statement also says that legislation that gives parents the ability to opt-out of mask requirements will soon be advanced in the House. Additionally, on Thursday Speaker Moore sent a letter to Governor Roy Cooper urging him and DHHS Secretary Kody Kinsley to “repeal the guidelines that force healthy kids to stay home and effectively mandate masks in schools.”

On Friday, February 4, the State Supreme Court ruled that the newly drawn State legislative and congressional district maps were unconstitutional and ordered the legislature to submit redrawn maps to the trial court by 5:00 pm on February 18.

The Supreme Court’s 4-3 decision was split along party lines, with the majority stating that “When, on the basis of partisanship, the General Assembly enacts a districting plan that diminishes or dilutes a voter’s opportunity to aggregate with likeminded votes to elect a governing majority – that is, when a districting plan systematically makes it harder for one group of voters to elect a governing majority than another group of voters of equal size – the General Assembly unconstitutionally infringes upon that voter’s fundamental right to vote.”

In December 2021, the Supreme Court pushed back the primary election date from March 8 to May 17, as redistricting litigation progressed. Additionally, last month the State Board of Elections announced new candidate filing period dates, which will begin at 8:00 am on February 24 and end at 12:00 pm on March 4.

Click here and here for articles on the ruling.

House Select Committee on an Education System for North Carolina’s Future

This committee met on Monday and was presented with information on the public school funding system and State Superintendent Catherine Truitt’s Operation Polaris. Superintendent Truitt focused on the need to reform the current school accountability model, saying that metrics like chronic absenteeism and durable skills attainment should be included in the model. Additionally, Superintendent Truitt emphasized the need to do a better job of preparing students for the workforce.

This committee will meet again in two weeks to hear from the Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson and State Board of Education Chair Eric Davis. In the future, the Committee will hold meetings in Randolph, Union, Gaston, and Carteret counties.

Click here for an article on the meeting, which includes legislator discussion.

Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations, Subcommittee on Use and Distribution on Federal COVID Funding

This committee met on Wednesday and heard testimonies from Dr. Vanessa Wrenn, DPI’s Chief Information Officer, and Dr. Lynn Harvey, DPI’s Director of School Nutrition Services.

Dr. Wrenn’s presentation was on the use and distribution of technology funding. She discussed the State’s work to ensure that each student had internet access and devices to participate in remote learning, including the use of almost $97 million in federal COVID relief funds to address the highest technology needs across the State. Additionally, the number of LEAs that provide a device to each student increased from 16 in June 2019 to 104 in February 2022. One legislator questioned how much funding it would take to maintain this current level of technology, to which Dr. Wrenn estimated a base level of $150 million to annually replace 25% of student devices.

Dr. Harvey’s presentation was on school nutrition operations during the pandemic. Dr. Harvey stated that nearly 60% of students enrolled in NC’s public schools qualify for free or reduced-price meals, and NC is among the top 10 states for chronic hunger. U.S. Department of Agriculture waivers have allowed meals at no cost to all children, and Dr. Harvey requested that the committee consider writing a letter to NC’s Congressional Delegation requesting that waivers be extended into the next school year. Legislators expressed concerns, including wasted student meals, how to determine if a child is truly hungry, and how LEAs recover from accrued student meal debt.

Click here and here for articles on the meeting, which include legislator discussion.

As of February 11,

• 40 school districts have mask optional policies (seven have mask optional policies with certain stipulations and eight have pending effective dates)
• 75 school districts have mask mandates (four have mask mandates because the district reached a certain positivity rate)

The number of districts that require masks has decreased by 12 since last Friday, February 4.

NCSBA continues to track local school boards’ mask policies as districts vote monthly on whether to modify their current policy (required by Section 10 of SB 654/SL 2021-130). Click here to access a chart of school board actions. If your school district changes its mask policy or you have corrections to the chart, please email information to Rebekah Howard at rhoward@ncsba.org.

On Wednesday, Governor Roy Cooper extended the policy that allows State employees to use volunteer days to work as “substitute teachers, bus drivers, cafeteria staff, and other needed roles” in NC’s public schools. This policy, which is an effort to combat staff shortages in schools due COVID-19, is extended through April 15.

Full-time State employees are eligible for 24 hours of paid community service leave each calendar year, and this extension provides an additional 24 hours. The policy continues to allow State employees to receive compensation earned from working in public schools.

“We want to keep students learning safely in the classroom and encourage State employees to serve as substitutes and volunteers and be able to keep any compensation they receive,” said Governor Cooper. “This extension gives school districts more time to bring in volunteers and gives our generous State employees more opportunities to lend their talents to their local schools.”

Click here for the existing community service leave policy and click here for the temporary exception allowing expanded use of the policy in schools.

We have updated our 2021-2022 Legislative Summary to include SB 219: Surveyor Lic. & Ed. Req’s/Constr. Contract Rev’s, which was recently signed into S.L. 2022-1.

Click here to access the NCSBA 2021-2022 Legislative Summary.

Bruce Mildwurf
Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
bmildwurf@ncsba.org

Rebekah Howard
Governmental Relations Research Specialist
N.C. School Boards Association
rhoward@ncsba.org