Cabarrus County students, teachers return to the classroom

CABARRUS COUNTY, N.C. — On Thursday, students and teachers with Cabarrus County schools are heading back to the classroom.

This year, students returned back to school two weeks earlier than they did last year.

Parents told Channel 9′s Almiya White that they were concerned that the students would not have enough time to unplug.

“It doesn’t give them time to refresh and recharge honestly. It doesn’t give the teachers a chance to refresh and recharge,” parent Latasha Monford told White.

Other parents said their kids are excited and can’t wait to get back in the classroom.

“She was just ready to go back. They could’ve been out for a week for summer, and she would’ve been fine,” parent Chaneek Armstrong said.

“I’m like oh my god, it’s the first day of school. I am so excited. My mom was like get up it’s time to go to school and I was like wow,” Armstrong’s daughter Rosalina said.

However, the district said exceptional children’s classrooms will have the biggest impact.

While Cabarrus County schools have filed 97% of their teacher vacancies, there is still a national shortage of specialized teachers.

“I think it shows they are a little more prepared, overall, I think it’s good that everyone will be attended to,” parent Brian Hunsuck said.

The district said it is also looking to hire 38 bus drivers. However, until that happens the current drivers will have to cover some routes twice to minimize the impact.

Parents are being asked to prepare just in case that affects their child.

“They did do a new app this year where you can track their school bus. It shows you the time and the location of the bus,” parent Ashley Linker said.

Which Linker said will give her peace of mind until the district has all 238 drivers.

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