Frustrated Wake County parents hold reopen rally outside school district headquarters
CARY, N.C. (WTVD) -- Wake County parents who are frustrated with the school district's reopening strategy held a rally Thursday outside WCPSS headquarters.
The parents maintain the school board has failed to come up with a reasonable reopen plan despite having months to do so.
The new plan will allow K-3 students and special education back in the classroom by October 26.
According to the plan, middle-schoolers will return November 9, with fourth- and fifth-graders the following week.
Students will be on three-week rotations.
But high school students will continue to learn remotely.
Brian Groesser, a father of three, has children in elementary, middle and high school. He told ABC11 that he is already having a tough time managing remote-learning schedules.
Juggling the planned rotations with remote learning will only make it harder.
Parents at the protest want all schools to safely reopen.
"We want this to happen. We need this to happen for our kids," Groesser said. "Kids can learn about government on Zoom meetings and Google meets. This is government. This is civil action, this is going out to show how it works in real life.
"And sending a message to the board that you need to hear us," he added. "And we feel we haven't been heard effectively since July."
Regarding the rally, School Board Chairman Keith Sutton shared a statement with ABC11:
"We have made what we feel is the best decision for students, faculty, staff, and the community. Both sides of the argument are upset. Some people think we're opening too soon, some think it's not soon enough. We must hit somewhere in the middle in terms of a thoughtful and deliberate approach to reopening schools in a safe manner that is operationally sound."
Steve Bergstrom, a candidate for the District 8 seat of the Wake County school board told ABC11 ,"The struggles that they're going through they're doing all right comparatively speaking but there are some parents here who are really, really hurting."
