Grain Valley School District considers closing schools as COVID-19 forces staff shortage
The Grain Valley School District is monitoring the number of staff that have been out this week to determine if it will need to cancel classes the rest of the week amid the surge of COVID-19 cases.
In a memo sent Tuesday, the district said it wouldn’t close down schools, but “the fill rate is still critically low and we will continue to monitor it closely.”
For now, the district’s Early Childhood Center is closed Wednesday and Thursday and will resume classes next Tuesday, the memo said.
The district said that if schools are ultimately forced to close as a result of staff absences it would give families as much notice as possible. Brad Welle, a spokesman for the district, said in an email that the district will look at where absences are occurring and make closure decisions based on the information.
There isn’t a specific absence rate that will trigger school closures, he said. The district currently has 101 of 675 employees out.
The Grain Valley school district is yet another Kansas City area district trying to grapple with the massive rise in COVID-19 cases due, in large part, to the omicron variant.
Last week, The Star’s Editorial Board reported that the Southern Boone School District had to close schools and switch to virtual learning because there weren’t enough teachers, staff or substitutes to lead classes.
Over the last few days, several area school districts have started implementing mask mandates again to deal with the surge.
On Monday, the Raytown Quality Schools District voted to reinstate its mask requirement until at least Feb. 15.
Last week, Kansas City’s City Council reinstated mandatory mask-wearing for all K-12 schools. And the North Kansas City City Council voted to extend its COVID-19 health order, requiring masks in school buildings. Kansas City Public Schools as well as the Kansas City, Kansas, school district never dropped their mask mandates.
Lee’s Summit and Park Hill school districts have also reinstated universal mask mandates.
