District to move online after Thanksgiving

Elyria City Schools students are going to virtual classes after Thanksgiving until the end of January due to the recent increase in the number of novel coronavirus cases.

The district announced the change in a newsletter to parents, and stated the learning at home will continue through the end of the first semester, which is Jan. 22.

Students will not attend classes as originally planned Nov. 23 and 24.

Teachers and school staff instead will use these days to transition online, according to the letter.

Elyria Schools is the first public school in Lorain County other than the Lorain County JVS to announce it will go online for the rest of the year.

In Elyria, the second semester will begin Jan. 26.

The district hasn’t announced what its plans will be for the next semester.

Superintendent Ann Schloss said staff and student absences are on the rise, despite the safety measures the district put in place.

“To be frank, it’s straining our workforce to where we cannot cover classes, nor count on reserve staffing to step in when absences occur,” Schloss wrote.

For students already in remote learning, nothing will change.

Hybrid students in prekindergarten to eighth grade will attend online class four days a week: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, according to the letter.

Wednesdays will continue to be virtual office hours with teachers as needed.

Elyria High students will follow their established schedules and all instruction will be done and will continue to attend their scheduled two days per week virtually, the letter said.

Students on the hybrid plan will use the Google Suite platform.

Teaching and learning will be remote, but will be done in real time by teachers.

Attendance will be taken and assignments must be turned in using

Google Classroom to receive grades.

Special education services still are available and also virtual, according to the letter.

The intervention specialists will work with related services and classroom teachers to set a schedule.

Questions about special education should go to the student’s intervention specialist.

Further guidance on athletics will come later this week, the letter said.

Most clubs and other cocurricular programs will continue virtually.

According to the newsletter, some in-person opportunities may be available, but the district said more information will come at a later date.

Information on picking up students’ personal items also will come at a later date.

During an Elyria Schools Board of Education meeting, Schloss said she was informed by Lorain County Public Health that schools are not the cause of spiking cases.

“The spreading is not going on in the schools,” she said. “We have had less than 10 confirmed cases come out of our school system.”

Schloss