As Parson touts in-person learning, 62 Missouri districts see closures, mostly for COVID

Missouri was at the top of the nation for the amount of in-person learning schools provided last year, Gov. Mike Parson said Wednesday during his State of the State address, boasting of his administration’s belief in limited state interventions during the pandemic.

“We never had state mandates or forced businesses, schools, or churches to close,” he said. “Last year, 95 percent of Missouri schools saw the value of in-person learning and did the right thing by keeping their doors open and our kids in schools where they belong ... Nothing can replace the classroom.”

But this month, 62 school districts have had to temporarily close their doors, according to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, as a surge of COVID cases drives staff shortages.

That amounts to nearly 12% of districts statewide, DESE spokeswoman Mallory McGowin said in an email. The department counted all districts that reported needing to shut their doors for one or more days so far in January.

The closures came after a wave of districts removed mask requirements prior to the winter break in December, partly in response to Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s threats of lawsuits against school systems with COVID-19 mitigation rules.

They’ve included some of the state’s largest districts, such as Springfield Public Schools, which on Tuesday canceled in-person and virtual classes for the rest of this week, and Columbia Public Schools, which will close to students for three days starting Friday in anticipation of an Omicron peak. Both districts cited staff and substitute teacher shortages as well as student absenteeism in their decisions.

Columbia also announced it intends to bring back a mask mandate until early February.

On Wednesday, the Odessa school district, east of Kansas City, announced that it would hold classes virtually on Thursday and Friday, using the limited number of hours allotted by the state for remote learning this school year. Other districts, though, have canceled classes entirely.

The St. Joseph school district, which has been closed since Tuesday, canceled classes through the end of this week. And the Knob Noster school district, in Johnson County, Missouri, on Wednesday extended closures through Friday “due to a large number of staff and student absences/illnesses.” The district first closed schools last Friday. The nearby Warrensburg district also canceled classes on Thursday and Friday.

Other districts, including some of the largest systems in the Kansas City metro, are warning parents to prepare for closures as more staff members call in sick. Last week, North Kansas City Schools Superintendent Daniel Clemens wrote on Twitter that the district was short 300 teachers and found only 100 substitutes.

Asked for comment, Parson’s spokeswoman Kelli Jones responded with the same statements from the governor’s Wednesday speech and cautioned a reporter against describing the schools’ decisions as “closures.”

“That is very misleading and doesn’t factually represent situations,” she said in an email, though DESE itself used the term. Jones did not offer an alternative characterization.

Last week, the Missouri State Teachers Association implored DESE in a public letter to allot schools more days for virtual learning.

“These closures disrupt their communities and create uncertainty that extends into the spring and early summer as districts shuffle calendars to make up the lost days,” MSTA executive director Bruce Moe wrote.

During the 2020-2021 school year, a State Board of Education rule allowed districts to implement hybrid models of schooling. It was rescinded last summer, and a new state law now limits virtual learning to 36 hours for the school year. McGowin said the state is prioritizing in-person learning because it’s “what is best for our students.”

“We know that the vast majority of our students learn best in-person, and in-person learning provides the additional social, emotional, and mental health supports many students need,” she said.

Democratic lawmakers say they share that goal, and wrote to Parson and Republican colleagues this week asking for funding that they say would help keep schools open. House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, a Springfield Democrat, asked for the state to cover districts’ costs for substitute teachers, testing and temporary staff for the next three months.

Jones said she had not seen the letter.

McGowin said DESE “continues to monitor the current situation.”

“We are certainly aware of the workforce shortages cases of COVID and periods of quarantine are creating in public schools, as is the case in many other businesses and industries,” she said.

“We know school leaders and educators are doing what they can locally to keep their doors open, knowing in-person learning is often what is best for Missouri’s students.”

This story was originally published January 20, 2022 at 1:30 PM.