In a Friday letter to leaders of the Department of Public Instruction, the State Board of Education, and both chambers of the North Carolina General Assembly, Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools superintendent Earnest Winston and board chair Elyse Dashew requested flexibility from the state to assist the district in dealing with a health crisis which has shut down schools for the forseeable future.

Specifically, the requests include waivers for end-of-year testing and the authority to award emergency leave pay to all public school employees “who are unable to work because their job duties cannot be performed remotely and reasonable alternate work is not feasible or productive.”

You can read the letter in full below: