January 21, 2021 - In a 6-2 vote, the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education voted to delay a return to in-person learning for most high school students. All students, grades 9 -12 were scheduled to begin returning to classrooms in cohorts next week.  The Board of Education modified the plan as follows:

• Only those high school students (all grades) in Career and Technical Education (CTE) classes that require hands-on learning for credential attainment will continue returning to in-person instruction as scheduled on January 25. Schools will communicate with those families. (see list below)
• All other students in grade 9 are being delayed one week and will begin returning to school in phases the week of February 1.
• All other students in grades 10, 11, and 12 will begin returning to school in cohorts the week of February 22.

The originally proposed cohort schedule will be used for all grades.

Interim Superintendent Tricia McManus said, “I think these modifications will be helpful. We must pause and analyze our processes, specifically our contact tracing efforts.  Those efforts are crucial and must not be strained by adding more students at this time. We must use the contact tracing strategy effectively if we are to continue to align with the CDC’s recommended mitigation efforts to slow the spread.”

She continued by saying, “I want nothing more than for students to be in school, but I have also been very clear I want to be 100% confident that we can implement the mitigation strategies effectively.  Bringing just 9^th graders back and delaying the others first helps us continue that crucial phased approach.”

Students in Pre-K through grade 8 have already returned to in-person learning.  This decision will not affect their schedules.