School cancels class; others require masks
Licking County makes moves after COVID surge
GRANVILLE — One Licking County school was forced to cancel classes, and two others have put mask mandates into place after COVID-19 cases surged following the winter break.
Superintendent Dave Hile said Licking Valley Local Schools had to close last Friday, and this Monday and Tuesday due to excessive staff illness, and a decision was to have been made Tuesday afternoon on if the district can open Wednesday and Thursday.
“We have a lot of people positive for COVID, but we also have flu A and B, and a variety of other illnesses going around,” Hile said. “We have too many teachers sick to ask them to provide remote learning at this time, so these are calamity days. Masking is always an option, if we need to do it. “
Granville, Licking Heights require masks
Granville Exempted Village Schools and Licking Heights Local Schools both started district-wide mask mandates regardless of vaccination status as of Jan. 10.
In a Jan. 7 letter, Licking Heights Superintendent Philip Wagner wrote that although spread of COVID-19 within the school district has been minimal, cases contracted outside of school buildings has significantly increased.
“We started the week with 14 student and 6 staff positive COVID-19 cases. As of last night, there are 73 student and 26 staff COVID-19 positive cases,” he wrote.
Anyone in district buildings will have to wear a mask, including spectators at extracurricular and athletic events, Wagner wrote.
Wagner wrote the district’s goal is to keep in-person schooling open five days a week.
“Universal masking is expected to help control spread and transmission, as well as, to assist in the process of contact tracing,” he wrote.
The district’s universal masking is expected to end once COVID-19 case counts significantly decrease, Wagner included in his letter.
During Granville Board of Education meeting Monday night, Superintendent Jeff Brown said the temporary mandate is in effect until at least Jan. 21 and then the district will make adjustments as necessary.
“As we have throughout this entire pandemic, we have looked at our local data and made decisions based on that local data to protect the health and safety of our students and staff,” he said.
As of Monday, the district 21 COVID-19 student cases that were confirmed by medical personnel and another 20 cases where students tested positive through home tests, Brown said.
He added that about 14 percent of the district’s student population — more than 350 students — were out Monday because of positive COVID-19 cases, quarantine and other illnesses, such as cold, flu and strep throat.
Brown said staff members are also required to wear masks while the mandate is in effect. The district has 12 teachers who are COVID-19 positive as of Monday, but a total of 40 staff members were out Monday for some type of reason, including other illnesses.
“It is important for our staff to be able to conduct the business of educating our students and we need them in front of our children,” he said. “We are trying to do everything that we can to maintain our in-person status, that is our clear priority.”
Brown said the district is trying to get more substitute teachers into the district pool and that other staff members are stepping up to help when a teacher is out.
“It is stressing the system and there are many nights that I question our ability to have school the next day,” he said.
The decision to close school would be a decision between the district and the Licking County Health Department, Brown said after the meeting. He couldn’t provide a specific threshold that would cause the district to close school.
He said the more likely scenario is reaching a point where Granville can return to its mask-optional policy.
Heath superintendent Trevor Thomas said the district’s return has been positive, although they had some shortage of bus drivers last week, and this week teacher absences have ticked up a bit.
“But we are still able to have in person class,” Thomas said. “This week, we were fortunate to receive 1,000 at home COVID tests from the Ohio Department of Health, and we are making those available to our students and staff upon request.”
He said Heath has prioritized in person instruction and the prevention of spread.
“We will stay in school until we cannot staff a school any longer, and will only use remote instruction when absolutely necessary,” Thomas said. “We are actively discussing safety procedures and whether to increase those as the numbers continue to climb, but as of now we have not chosen to go with a mask mandate. We communicate with the health department on a daily basis and will continue to do so.”
In a Facebook post Tuesday morning, Newark City Schools announced the district’s middle and high school students would be learning virtually due to a shortage of bus drivers. They noted elementary and pre-school students will still attend in-person classes at their normal times.
Lakewood superintendent Mark Gleichauf said while there has been an increase in positive COVID cases for students and staff, severe cold symptoms and flu are even more prevalent than COVID.
“With that being said, we have done some creative substituting in our schools with teacher shortages,’ he said. “We did a job fair in December and had a small increase in the number of teacher subs available, and are utilizing these new subs almost daily. We know the importance of keeping our students inperson for academic reasons and are trying to exhaust all possibilities before remote learning.”
As for bus drivers, “we have combined some bus routes, and utilized other staff members who have a CDL license when necessary,” Gleichauf said.
Dave Weidig and Michaela Sumner contributed to this story mdevito@gannett.com 740-607-2175
Twitter: @Mariadevito13