Weather Announcements: Most Hickory Metro Schools Operating Remotely Today, Catawba Schools Canceled (Updated 7:25 a.m., 1/8/21)
Weather Announcements: Most Hickory Metro Schools Operating Remotely Today, Catawba Schools Canceled (Updated 7:25 a.m., 1/8/21)
January 8, 2021
Due to wintry weather in the Hickory Metro, in the Catawba County Schools, there will be no school, in-person or virtual, today (January 8) and it will be an Optional Teacher Workday. Quest is also canceled. The Hickory Public Schools will have a remote learning day. Newton-Conover Schools will still operate as planned with a remote learning day for Students, Pre-K will be closed. Kid Connection was still scheduled to open at 9:00 a.m. at North Newton.
Marty Sharpe was hard at work when a package arrived at his office. It was a stolen Catawba County Schools Chromebook that had been recovered in Virginia.
âIt was found in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in the middle of a street,â Sharpe said. Heâs the Chief Technology Officer at Catawba County Schools. He s worked for the school system since 1999.
âThis is just one reason we pushed for Chromebooks for all staff and students, as we can lock them remotely with a message that it was reported stolen or missing with our address,â Sharpe explained. This is one example of how county schools have been proactive about the use of technology in their district.
When they eventually return to classrooms, thousands of North Carolina students - along with their teachers - will have access to rapid COVID-19 testing.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services has selected 17 school districts and 11 charter schools to receive more than 50,000 federally funded rapid antigen tests through its pilot testing program. Each school plans to offer classroom instruction for either some or all of its students this winter.
“This program gives us another tool in our tool kit to slow the spread of COVID-19 across our state and to keep children in the classroom, which we know is vital not only to their academic growth but also to their health and emotional development,” state health secretary Mandy Cohen said in a statement last week.
Seventeen school districts and 11 charter schools have been selected by North Carolina health officials to receive rapid COVID-19 tests as part of a state pilot program.
The K-12 schools will use the tests when in-person instruction is occurring. All schools selected offer either full in-person instruction or a hybrid of remote learning and in-person instruction.
The NC Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) believe the rapid tests will slow the spread of the virus by quickly identifying infected students and staff.
“This program gives us another tool in our toolkit to slow the spread of COVID-19 across our state and to keep children in the classroom, which we know is vital not only to their academic growth but also to their health and emotional development,” said NCDHHS Secretary Mandy K. Cohen. “We will learn from these pilot schools and plan to expand the program early next year.”