School goes virtual because of staffing

Teachers call out sick after number of students attended event over weekend

Quakertown Community High School switched to virtual learning Monday because teachers called out sick after a numberof students attended an event over the weekend.

Highschool Principal Mattias van ’t Hoenderdaal sent anemail Monday telling parents that the school wasexperiencing “a large number of staffing shortages.” He referenced an event held over the weekendat a local business, which students attended.

“We believe that this staff shortage is due to concerns about an event that occurred in our community this week that a large crowd of students attended, causing a potential safety concern to themselves,” van ’t Hoenderdaal wrote in the email, which The Morning Call viewed. “To avoid this in the future please encourage your children to wear their mask, to social distance, and to avoid large gatherings.”

District officials did not return messages Monday. Quakertown middle and high school students wentbacktoschool full time as of last week.

Quakertown teachers union President Ryan Wieand said the union did not organize a sick-out Monday. But he said he believes some teachers called out because of the weekend event.

“Based on the number of emails I received from staff from the high school who were scared and concerned and worried about their health and

their families’ health, I would imagine that some of those were related to that for sure,” he said.

Wieand did not have the exact number of teachers who were out Monday. He said teachers saw social media posts over the weekend of students not wearing masks at the event.

Quakertown, in Bucks County, is at least the second school in the region that experienced staffing shortages after students gathered for a weekend event. A third of Southern Lehigh High School teachers called out sick this month after a homecoming dance that was not sponsored by the school.

In a video message, East Penn school Director Ziad Munson blasted parents and students for attending a dance at a local country club. Munson said as a high school parent, he understood the frustration that teenagers are feeling over missing out on milestones because of the pandemic, but he urged parents andstudents to take precaution. Social media posts showed a number of students not wearing masks and standing close to each other at the dance.

“I’m deeply concerned about how the event has endangered my own son as well as every other person in the community,” he said in the message.

East Penn did not appear to experience the staffing shortages that Quakertown and Southern Lehigh did.