Shawnee Mission elementary school moves to online classes after COVID-19 exposures
East Antioch Elementary School in Overland Park moved to online-only classes on Wednesday after the district learned of a potential COVID-19 exposure among several individuals.
Shawnee Mission Superintendent Mike Fulton said in an email to the community Tuesday night, “We do not have enough time tonight to complete the contact tracing necessary to ensure that students and staff can safely attend school tomorrow, and for that reason, the decision was made to move to remote learning for Wednesday.”
He expected contact tracing to be completed on Wednesday, and while students are out of classrooms, staff would deep clean the building. Spokesman David Smith said officials expect the school to reopen for in-person learning on Thursday.
He did not specify the number of people who may have been exposed to coronavirus or the source of the cases.
On Monday, the Shawnee Mission district announced that middle and high school students would return to online-only classes from Nov. 30 through Jan. 22. The district is facing a staffing and teacher substitute shortage, exacerbated by a growing number of employees in quarantine or isolation due to COVID-19.
Shelby Rebeck, the health services coordinator, also previously said school nurses are working 20-hour days trying to keep up with contact tracing. Officials have warned that the staffing shortage, inability to contact trace and growing number of cases in the community will make it more difficult to keep school doors open.
District leaders hope that moving secondary students to remote learning will allow the limited substitute pool to work at the elementary level and keep younger students in classrooms full time. But Fulton warned earlier this week that the district could transition elementary students back to remote classes as well if needed.
The district reported this week that 180 staff and 823 students are either in quarantine or isolation after being exposed to the virus, according to its COVID-19 dashboard.
This story was originally published November 18, 2020 at 10:59 AM.