Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday aiming to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. State and local officials are working to determine what the impact will be on North Carolina’s public schools. 

Five years ago, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Chief Academic Officer Paula Wilkins was faced with one of the biggest questions of her career: How do you keep a school afloat through a pandemic? She shares lessons in this installment of Echoes of the Pandemic.

A federal policy change allowing immigration enforcement officers to make arrests at schools may be contributing to dips in student attendance in Winston-Salem. 

The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Board of Education voted Tuesday to embed the district’s Virtual Academy within two other schools. Officials say the move is the result of declining enrollment and will save the district nearly $1 million. 

The proposed change would have required candidates who test positive for cannabis to undergo up to four more random tests in their first year, at their own expense — about $55 each time.