Just weeks into the school year, K12 leaders are already facing disruptions to instruction and learning caused by health concerns. COVID, strep throat and the flu, to name a few, are forcing schools in districts across the country to leverage non-traditional instruction (NTI).
Drops in attendance
Just nine days into the school year, the Lee County School District in Kentucky, which is home to nearly 900 students, reported a drop in attendance to 81%,聽NBC News聽. Fourteen staff members also called in sick.
In response, the district decided to Tuesday and Wednesday and utilize remote instruction for the rest of the week. Extracurricular activities have also been canceled while staff conducts a deep clean of the schools.
“We’re sanitizing our buses and our buildings and giving our staff and our students time to heal,” Superintendent Earl Ray Schuler told聽NBC News.
Several other districts throughout the state have reported an uptick in cases this week, including Magoffin Couty Schools and Laurel County.
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Earlier this month, health officials about what they believe will be an intense respiratory season this year. And for the first time, there will be three different vaccines for combating the three major respiratory viruses: the new COVID booster, the annual flu shot and two RSV vaccines for adults, according to NBC News.
“We are very, very concerned about the upcoming pan-respiratory season,” DR. Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, said during a recent media briefing.
A small district with few resources
Another small Texas school district was forced to cancel school until next Tuesday, citing a聽 “recent surge of positive COVID-19 cases within our district,” KENS 5 .
According to Runge ISD’s , which was last updated on Monday, 10 out of 43 staff members were infected, in addition to the district’s superintendent, Hector O. Dominguez Jr.
“On Saturday afternoon I began to receive calls,” he told KENS 5. “I tested myself with my physician, and I too tested positive for COVID. We’re a very small school district, so we don’t have the resources another, larger district would have to cover classes.”
“No parties”
Similar fears are also causing leaders in higher ed to to mitigate the spread of COVID. Morris Brown College in Atlanta this week announced that a mask mandate will be in place for two weeks due to an uptick in COVID cases among students. According to the college’s president, Kevin James, all students and staff members will be required to wear a mask.
“There will be no parties or large student events on campus for the next two weeks,” reads an announcement from the school.
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