COLUMBUS, Ohio — In-person learning was canceled Monday at 10 Columbus City Schools “due to a high number of staff absences,” the district announced.
Among those schools that changed were remote learning Monday were: Berwick, Burroughs Elementary, Duxberry Park Elementary, Eastmoor Academy, Johnson Park Middle, Linden McKinley STEM 7-12, Marion-Franklin High, Ridgeview Middle, South High 7-12, West Mound Elementary.
The district would not provide someone to be interviewed regarding the changes but it comes following a week when students and staff were on winter break and Ohio is setting record numbers for both COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.
When asked if there was a hard line for determining when schools need to move to remote learning, a district spokeswoman said via email: “There is no formula or number considered when making the decision to transition to remote learning. With 112 buildings across the district, each school is unique with its own challenges to consider. The school principal and their area superintendent collaborate on when to make a recommendation to Superintendent Dr. Dixon to transition to remote learning. They look at the type of staffing that is calling off and what substitutes or coverage is available and evaluate the needs of the school building.”
10TV also learned there were staff call-offs at Walnut Ridge and Independence High Schools, but a district spokeswoman said those “it didn’t warrant transitioning to remote learning. We provided additional supports to those schools that conducted in-person learning but also had call-offs,” according to Jacqueline Bryant, a spokeswoman for CCS, the state’s largest school district.
Bryant said CCS is also in contact with public health officials when making determinations about COVID-19 related decisions.
John Palmer, a spokesman for the Ohio Hospital Association, said the current COVID landscape is in part what prompted his organization to send a letter to Governor DeWine’s administration – urging it to be forwarded to school superintendents urging mask requirements.
“The big wild card is schools re-opening and classes resuming. And what that could entail in the coming weeks with community spread that could be occurring in our schools - kids bringing it in, kids bringing it out,” Palmer said. “It’s just an unfortunate situation we don’t want to be in, but if we want to get out of this and not create spread those are the resources and preventative measures we have in place.”
Adding to the concern, Palmer pointed to increasing numbers of COVID hospitalizations among children ages 0 to 17, which was up nearly 70 percent from between Dec 20 and Dec 27th from 135 patients in the age group, to 228 a week later.
10TV News also reached out to a number of districts asking about if the rise in cases was prompting changes in COVID protocols or leading to remote learning. Hillard and Westerville did not report any changes. Other area school districts like Dublin, Southwest Licking, and South Western City Schools did not get back to us. Reynoldsburg reported that some of its student groups would resume remote learning this week due to both bus driver and staffing shortages.
Pickerington Schools reported it is planning on returning to full in-person learning and will resume classes “mask optional” for grades K to 12.