Water Quality Issues Persist in CHCCS Buildings
Students are back in the classrooms at Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, but the district is still contending with water quality issues that arose from last year’s extended closure.
In a message to staff and families on Monday, CHCCS Assistant Superintendent Patrick Abele said officials are still detecting copper and lead in some water samples taken from the schools.
For that reason, Abele said CHCCS schools will keep providing bottled water to staff and students for the rest of the school year, and using only bottled water for food preparation “until testing confirms the water is safe to drink.”
CHCCS Moves End of Week to Remote Learning Due to Gas Shortage
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools district will conduct classes remotely Friday due to the recent run on fuel across the region.
The school system shared a message with parents, students and staff Thursday night saying full remote instruction will be used on Friday, May 14, with all students and staff working from home.
“We are monitoring local fuel availability and have not seen a significant increase in the level of fuel options over the past 24 hours,” wrote CHCCS Assistant Superintendent Patrick Abele. “We are fortunate to have a dedicated workforce, however, over 55 percent of our staff commute from outside the district each day.”
As local K-12 schools begin to wrap up their spring semesters, some teachers are still trying to come to terms with the past year.
Michelle Gay is a 5th grade teacher at Northside Elementary School in Chapel Hill. Throughout the pandemic, Gay has had to continuously adapt her lesson plans as students moved from a fully remote to a hybrid, in-person learning model.
“It’s definitely been a learning curve,” Gay said. “I think the more we’ve done it the better it’s gotten and there are definitely some days I feel really great about it and some days where I want to check in with the online kids separately to see if they feel like they’re being heard as much.”
Rodney Trice Returns to CHCCS as New Chief Equity and Engagement Officer
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools is welcoming back a former staff member to play a new, key role for the district.
At its meeting Thursday night, the CHCCS school board approved Dr. Rodney Trice as its new Chief Equity & Engagement Officer. Trice, who worked with the district for eight years, is currently the Assistant Superintendent of Equity Affairs with the Wake County Public School System.
“We are very fortunate to bring Dr. Trice home to CHCCS,” said Superintendent Dr. Nyah Hamlett in a release Thursday night. “His experience, expertise, relationships and connection to the community make him uniquely qualified for the hard work ahead.”