CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Schools around the country have sat empty since March, closed because of the coronavirus. Now, school leaders are preparing to safely send students back to class.

What You Need To Know


  • Schools around the country have sat empty March, closed because of the coronavirus.

  • Now, school leaders are preparing to safely send students back to class.

  • Colleges and universities in North Carolina are looking at making masks mandatory on campus, reducing class sizes, and offering more remote learning opportunities

In Charlotte, staff at Johnson and Wales University are hanging signs about hygiene and laying arrows in hallways to keep students moving in one direction.

Dr. Cheryl Richards, president of Johnson and Wales, has stayed busy tweaking the guide to welcome students back to campus.

“Pretty much the day that we started moving people off campus, we started thinking about how do we re-entry people back onto campus,” she says.

Some of the big changes at Johnson and Wales include a modified academic schedule, requiring masks on campus, and having one student in each dorm room.

Other universities around the state are making similar changes. UNC is reducing class sizes and requiring masks in class. UNC Charlotte is also asking students to wear masks in class, and is moving all students to remote learning after Thanksgiving break.

“We don’t know if we’re out of phase 1, if we’re headed towards another resurgence, we don’t know where that’s going,” Dr. Richards says. “I think that just keeps everyone up at night, thinking how are we working forward?”

Right now, Johnson and Wales is preparing to welcome some students back to campus on July 6, and Fall semester is slated to begin on August 31.