HAMLET — Richmond County Schools administered 205 vaccines to staff last week, and plan to administer 301 more this week as the school system has begun to see a reduction in COVID-19 cases and mental health concerns.

Dr. Wendy Jordan, director of student services, said that the vaccine distribution for RCS staff last week was flawless and went quicker than anticipated. Some RCS staff received the vaccine outside of these scheduled events, and thus are not represented in the count from last week.

The second-dose clinics will be held on March 23 and March 30, both Tuesdays. It will only serve individuals for their second doses of the vaccines.

Jordan said it will be quicker because no one will have to register and everybody’s information is already in the system.

The P-EBT food benefit program began distribution on Feb. 19 to help families cope with challenges associated with the pandemic and caring for children.

Jordan said fully remote families can expect $116 per student per month. For hybrid students they will receive $6.82 multiplied by the average number of days that North Carolina schools — using a hybrid schedule — conducted virtual instruction that month.

Jordan said that there’s been a decline in reports of COVID-19 cases from students and teachers. There’s been a decrease in staff absenteeism due to a COVID exposure, from a high of 60 last month to only 17 as of March 1.

Additionally, the number of flagged emails in the school computer system which exhibit alarming or concerning behavior has decreased, said Jordan. There were only 16 flagged messages, and none of them concerned suicidal ideation.

School re-entry

Dr. Kate Smith, executive director of curriculum and instruction, said that one last survey will be sent to the families of middle and high school students who may wish to attend classes in-person for the final nine weeks. Between March 1 and March 15, they can decide if they’re ready to return to the classroom. Smith said they want to make sure that all kids have the opportunity to come back to face to face learning before they may shift to middle and high students returning to classes four days a week.

“If we can safely bring those students back, and implement four days instead of two days for middle school and high schools, we would like to do so,” Smith said. “Of course we will continue with social distancing and all the safety protocols that we’ve had in place.”

Smith said that elementary schools are operating at about 70% of students in face to face learning. They are coming four days a week.

For middle and high schools, those numbers of student attendance are lower than anticipated. They are still in the cohort model, with students attending two days a week in person.

Smaller middle schools, such as Ellerbe and Cordova, have about 60 to 80 students a day. Larger middle schools have 80 to 100 students a day, said Smith.

About 15 to 20 more students will be returning to each middle school based on responses from the most recent survey.

Richmond Senior High School has about 60 to 70 students a day. As of March 2, 90 more students said they would like to return from the most recent survey.

Nurses getting a boost

The Board unanimously approved a $1,500 stipend for the 10 school nurses within RCS.

School nurses have worked an additional 438 hours this academic year, which doesn’t include phone calls, texts or online searches in assisting families, according to Finance Officer Tina Edmonds. They’ve also had to do charting and record keeping of COVID-19 that’s beyond their normal responsibility within the school system.

Additionally, the Board approved a rollover of the price for school nutrition.

Usually, the child nutrition department will collect bids for the best price possible for school food within the county each year.

Food vendors require an accurate forecast of food purchases, which is not something that can be predicted due to COVID-19.

Edmonds said their current bid from the 2019-2020 school year is still a good price, plus they have a good history of dependability.

Ashley Chapel students gaining trade skills

Principal Kevin Mabe, counselor Monica Robinson and Richmond County Schools’ Director of Federal Programs Dr. Pam Patterson discussed the implementation of the Innovative Partnership Grant at Ashley Chapel Education Center (ACEC) to the Richmond County Board of Education.

ACEC was awarded the grant in January 2o2o. It was a competitive grant of $1.5 million with a goal to change the culture to a more skill-based education, with a focus on increasing student attendance, leadership and graduation rates.

In the first year, electrical courses are being offered. The second year will offer plumbing courses and an automotive program will be available the third year.

“I think its great what you guys are doing ,” Board Member Ronald Tillman said. “I look at is as giving these kids resources — sometimes kids might not be able to sit in the classroom and learn math, but if you put them in a situation where they use their hands and do the math, then they understand it a little better.”

Tillman said it was great to see these opportunities for students that are sometimes forgotten in the school system.

The presenters played video interviews from students enrolled in the program for the Board.

“I think it’s a way to learn stuff even if you don’t want to go to college,” said a female student in one of the videos. “It’s another way to learn things that we use every day.”

Students do not leave the class with an electrician license, but they could still get a job with their skills.

Robinson, the program’s coach, said that one of the students was excited that this is the first class that he ever received an “A” in.

In addition to the grant, principal Mabe talked about a new outdoor learning classroom at the school, as well as a greenhouse and a residential simulator for the electrical program.

He cited better test scores, higher GPA’s and decreased stress from prior research on outdoor classrooms for the reason for its installation.

According to Dr. Patterson, the residential simulator resembles a tiny house, with a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen. Students will learn how to run the wiring and do the plumbing. She said an individual at RCC is building the simulator with students and it will be transported to Ashley Chapel.

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Reach Matthew Sasser at 910-817-2671 or [email protected].