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Since the ordered school-building closure began on March 17, and subsequent Reset and Restart phase, Ohio’s education community has continually stepped up to ensure a student-centered approach to caring, teaching and learning. Ohio is experiencing increased COVID-19 cases each week, and as a result, Ohio currently has numerous counties categorized as Red (characterized by very high COVID-19 exposure and spread), according to the Ohio Public Health Advisory System. As counties across the state face the prospect of potentially being classified as Purple (characterized by severe COVID-19 exposure and spread), questions and subsequent debates are arising over the implications for schools and the safest and most effective mode of instruction. In particular, there are questions about the implications of the Purple level guidance to “only leave home for supplies and services.” Education qualifies as a service for purposes of this quoted statement. Many districts and schools have linked their reopening plans and contingencies to the Public Health Advisory System and have specified actions that would be taken at the Purple level. That said, there is no state mandate that schools operate exclusively in a remote manner should a county be categorized as Purple.

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We are committed to informing you of any developments that impact our school and those we serve. As of this week, we have less than 1% of our students and staff with positive active COVID-19 cases. What we are seeing is a higher number of students and staff who need to be quarantined. We are working with the health department on options to reduce the amount of time teachers, in particular, are away from school as they are essential to helping our students during this pandemic. This can be particularly difficult when we continue to focus on our number one priority, which is the health and safety of our staff and students.  We know that as more students and staff members need to quarantine we may be in a position where we will need to close a school building. We are currently monitoring numbers at a couple of our buildings. At this moment, we will continue to operate in our current learning model until further notice. We are taking each day at a time and will continually evaluate. We truly believe that the best thing for all of our students is for schools to remain open. We know how important our essential services like access to breakfast and lunch, counseling and emotional wellness resources, and safety of a school environment provide to students. We are also cognizant of the hardship a shutdown has on the home and our parents. Transportation has done a fantastic job transporting students safely and timely during these difficult times. We are starting to experience a shortage of drivers. When the unfortunate times arrives that we are unable to transport all students at their normally scheduled times, we will notify the affected families through an all call. Drivers will double back for those affected routes once they drop off their regularly scheduled routes. This will cause an approximate 25 to 30 minute delay. Students will not be counted tardy. We are asking all families to understand the importance of keeping students in school based on our current COVID-19 numbers.