Collierville teachers call for school to remain virtual.
Some teachers at Collierville High School are asking the district for school to remain virtual through the new year due to rising COVID-19 cases in the community and cases at the school.
On Wednesday, several staffers at the school sent a letter to the district’s superintendent Gary Lilly, his assistant, board members, the chief of human resources and the high school principal.
In addition to calling for virtual instruction through Jan. 15, staff also called for the school to remain in its hybrid schedule for the first half of the next semester.
“We can only hope that this will help slow the rise in the numbers we’ve been experiencing over the past few weeks. It is our hope that you will help us protect our students, families and ourselves by allowing CHS to teach remotely until the end of the semester,” staffers wrote in a letter obtained by The Commercial Appeal.
The school went virtual Thursday due to several personnel vacancies, the school announced Wednesday, and remained virtual Friday, as it does each week. Some staffers had COVID-19, some were in quarantine because they were close-contacts of a COVID-19 case. Others had previously schedule requests for days off or were sick with “seasonal illnesses,” the school said.
For now, students who are in-person are on a hybrid schedule, which allows for six feet of social distancing. In October, the district said the high school will return from the winter break in January with students attending classes in-person four days weekly, learning virtual on Fridays. They said the plan would allow for three feet of social distancing in places where six isn’t possible.
In response to the teachers’ letters, the district told The Commercial Appeal that school operations could change and would be tailored to meet the needs of the students and staff:
“We will continue to monitor active COVID-19 cases and active quarantine numbers across our district, depending on the current situation(s) and volume, we will tailor our school operations to meet the needs of both staff and student. Additionally, due to our dynamic school year setting, school operations are subject to change at any given moment. Collierville High School is on remote learning from 11/19 – 11/20, Thanksgiving intersession starts 11/23 – 11/27 and students will return back to the school campus on 11/30.”
In the letter, the high school teachers wrote that 8 students had been reported as COVID-19 positive along with 5 staffers on Wednesday. The district, which did not report its case numbers to the state this week, pointed to its own, new dashboard. The district is reporting a lower number, with 6 total student cases, 2 of which are full-time virtual learners. The district does not report staff cases at the school level, but is reporting 12 staff cases across the district, as of Friday.
Wednesday, the Shelby County Health Department said it was “working with the Collierville School District regarding some cluster breakouts” but did not say whether the clusters were associated with particular schools or the central office staff. Collierville Middle School went virtual beginning last Monday due to 5 reported cases of COVID-19 and several in quarantine, the district said at the time.
The recent teacher requests echo what some have told the district before. In September, teachers came before the district’s school board and some asked the board to consider moving completely virtual, documents show.
Laura Testino covers education and children’s issues for the Commercial Appeal. Reach her at laura.testino@commercialappeal.com or 901-5123763. Find her on Twitter: @Ldtestino