Jefferson City middle and high schools set to return in-person Monday
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
After a week of online learning and another week for Thanksgiving break, Jefferson City Schools' middle and high school students will return to the classroom Monday.
The Jefferson City School District previously moved middle schools online in October for two weeks citing the same issues. Elementary schools have been in person since the beginning of the school year.
Spokeswoman for the district Ryan Burns said leaders hope the break helped solve the issues with staffing in the district, but said the secondary schools are ready to pivot back to online learning if issues persist.
Burns said previously that moving secondary education online would allow the district to move some staff from those schools to the elementary school to keep those students in person.
JC Schools recognizes the importance of providing in-seat education, particularly for our youngest learners who may struggle more with distance learning and whose parents rely on schools for supervision during the workday. This support will perhaps become more important than ever as our local healthcare workers and emergency responders continue to respond to the growing COVID-19 crisis.
Ryan Burns, Jefferson City School District
As of Friday in Cole County, 5,455 cases of COVID-19 have been reported, resulting in 31 deaths.
In the school district, 371 case have been reported. Of those, 204 have been students and 167 were found in staff.
And just within the district, 505 people have had to go into isolation because of exposure. A majority of the close contacts have been students, but 64 staff had to quarantine because of exposure.
ABC17 checked in with some parents in the district, who reported this transition to online learning to be smooth for the most part.
Watch ABC17 News at 9 and 10 for the full story.
