Lee’s Summit returns middle and high school students to in-person classes some days
Lee’s Summit middle and high school students will change from online-only learning to some in-person classes later this month.
The Lee’s Summit school board voted 6 to 1 for students in seventh through 12th grade to begin attending school in a hybrid mode — online some days and in person on others — starting Jan. 25.
Then on Feb. 8, students would transition to attend in person four days a week. But that could change, depending on the severity of the pandemic.
Board member Kathryn Campbell cast the lone no vote.
On Nov. 23, Lee’s Summit switched all students to online after temporarily closing two elementary schools because so many students and teachers were out due to the coronavirus.
Pre-K through sixth grade students on Monday returned to in-person classes, with kindergarten through sixth grade in school buildings five days a week and pre-K four days a week.
Superintendent David Buck said he recommended older students attend in a hybrid mode on the advice of a panel of local medical experts.
If all students were in school at the same time, he said, they could not adequately social distance in classrooms.
“It is frustrating to me that we just allowed for bars and restaurants to open until midnight, and here we are still trying to get students back in school,” said Ryan Murdock, board president. Jackson County and several other jurisdictions this week switched the closing time on those establishments from 10 p.m. to midnight.
“I think we all share the same goal and that is that we want all students in school, in person all the time,” Campbell said.
Buck said the district will more likely bring all students back full time after staff and teachers have received both rounds of vaccines. School administrators said they suspect that won’t happen until sometime in March.
Currently, Missouri is busy getting vaccines to the first phase of recipients — front-line health care workers and residents and staff of long-term care facilities.
On Thursday, state health officials said that anyone 65 and older and those with certain health conditions will be eligible for the vaccine on Monday. They did not have a timeline for the next group, which includes teachers. And officials warned that the state currently doesn’t have enough vaccines to meet demand.
This story was originally published January 14, 2021 at 8:21 PM.
