COVID-19 EXPLOSION SENDS SCHOOLS TO VIRTUAL LEARNING
More than 100 new student and staff cases of COVID-19 prompted Mt. Pleasant Public Schools to close Wednesday in preparation for more than two weeks of virtual learning starting Thursday.
Fifty-one of the cases — half the total new cases since Jan. 3 — involve students at the middle and high schools, with 30 of those reported over the weekend, according to updated numbers from the district.
“As you know, we have been closely monitoring the COVID-19 cases of our students and staff. We are concerned by the large number of MPPS staff and students who have recently tested positive for COVID-19,” said a letter sent to district parents from Superintendent Jennifer Verleger. “Based on the guidance and support of the Central Michigan District Health Department, all MPPS K-12 buildings, including GI-TEC, will move to virtual instruction via Google Classroom starting Thursday, January 13, 2022.”
Steve Hall, health officer for CMDHD, said that the health department has a framework of issues it tries to work through with school officials for any contagious disease outbreak, not just COVID-19.
The health department asks school officials to ask themselves if kids are safer at home, whether the disease continues to spread despite contact tracing and other mitigation efforts, if the kids’ education is
better at home and whether absences are high enough that the days won’t count, anyway, he said in an email.
The district currently plans to return to face-to-face learning on Jan. 31.
In an email Wednesday, Verleger cited both new student cases and staffing challenges as reasons for the move.
As part of it, all district buildings were closed Wednesday, but open to allow students and parents to pick up Chromebooks. The district also announced plans to distribute meals.
By Wednesday afternoon, a steady stream of cars pulled up to the student drop-off lane so that students and parents could go inside to get the one Chromebook allotted per family until Jan. 31. One of them was Erin Rueckert, who has one child at the high school, one child at the middle school and two too young to attend school.
“This is pretty crappy,” she said. Rueckert said it’ll be minimal inconvenience for her. She works third shift, so is already home while her kids will have to get on the computer for school, but she said she has friends who work during the day and that for them making sure their kids get their work done is a struggle.
Across the district, 104 new cases have been reported since the district returned following the holidays.
Fifty-five cases were reported over the weekend, including 16 at the high school and 14 at the middle school. Five were also
reported at Pullen Elementary, four at Fancher, two at Ganiard and one at Vowles. Eleven staff cases were reported, including three at Ganiard, two each at the high school and Fancher Elementary and one each at the middle school, Pullen Elementary, Kinney and the transportation building.
There were 49 total cases reported last week, including 33 student cases. The high school had 12 of those cases, nine were at the middle school. The remaining 11 were distributed across the elementaries.
There were also 18 staff cases, including five at the high school; three at the middle school; and two each at Mcguire, Fancher and Pullen elementaries.