EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. — When some students in Edwardsville and Belleville schools head back to class after the winter break on Tuesday, they’ll be doing so virtually and from home.
Belleville confirmed with 5 On Your Side Monday afternoon that Belleville Township High School District 201 students will move to remote learning Tuesday-Friday of this week. The plan will be re-evaluated over the weekend.
School district officials said they had to make the change because of too much staffing and teacher absences.
Edwardsville officials said a similar issue is impacting them as well. They said an "unprecedented" surge in COVID-19 cases has left them with not enough educators to serve their students.
Mary Ann Mitchell, the public relations and communications coordinator for Edwardsville School District told 5 On Your Side, "We have a lot of staff that is out right now with COVID or in quarantine and we will not be able to provide adequate services for students. We don't have enough staff and like a lot of other schools in the area and across the country, we have a substitute shortage. We've had principles, assistant principals, guidance counselors, and other staff and administrators subbing."
The district made the decision late Sunday night made the decision to have its sixth through 12th graders go back to online learning this week. Edwardsville school officials are going to take this week to monitor things.
At this time, kindergarten through fifth grade students, FLS and CASTLE students are not affected and will still attend classes in-person.
The district also noted, all special transportation and schedules will remain the same. Students who are in need may also pick up devices to use for virtual learning. Those parents can contact their school office to schedule a time to pick up a device.
Edwardsville school officials said school sports won’t be canceled. But, during the pause, no spectators, including parents, will be allowed to attend home games.
Edwardsville and Belleville joined a growing list of schools in the Metro East deciding not to bring kids back to the classroom after the winter break.
School starts Monday for the Brooklyn Unit School District 188. Students from preschool to 12th grade are scheduled to start school Monday morning via remote learning for two weeks.
When students in East St. Louis return from winter break on Tuesday, all grade levels will do so online and from home. East St. Louis schools hope to return to in-person learning after the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
Superintendent Arthur Culver said it's leaning on its local health department for decisions to stop the spread of COVID-19.
"I received a call from the East Side Health District indicating that the numbers has skyrocketed in our serving zip codes. They strongly suggested that we consider actually go on remote for the whole month of January. We decided to take a look at things in two weeks to see whether or not the numbers improve," Culver said.
He believes it would be responsible to also look at the numbers after the New Year's celebrations, since he thinks those numbers will climb.
As far as childcare, Culver said they have several community centers in the area ready to support. They will also continue to feed students breakfast and lunch.
"We also will do bus routes to about 10 bus stops in the community, as well as serving meals at our community centers," Culver said.
Another reason they shifted to remote learning for the time being is because of the test-to-stay program.
Culver said if someone catches COVID, instead of sending everyone home, they can depend on the testing from East Side Health District.
"Because of the high number of staff members, they can’t conduct it for at least two weeks. It really would have put a lot of our students and staff members, as well as parents and community members in harm's way," Culver said.
Granite City School District #9 didn't announce changes to in-person learning. However, the district is temporarily adjusting its policy for athletic events.
Beginning Monday, spectators, including parents, will not be allowed to attend home games at Granite City High School and Coolidge Junior High School. The school said livestreams will be available on the NFHS Network or Facebook.
These school districts seem to be following the lead of the state.
Starting Monday, there are new COVID-19 changes in effect in Illinois, which is considered a high transmission area. Governor JB Pritzker made the changes to try to get a hold on the spread.
Pritzker is urging hospitals to delay elective surgeries and other non-emergency procedures to keep more beds open.
Across the state, there are 2,967 staffed ICU beds. Currently, 1,010 of those beds are filled with COVID-19 patients. The state has 313 ICU beds available.
When asked whether he believes a shift to remote learning is necessary, Pritzker said Monday "the best thing" is for students to be in school safely.
"I've said all along that it's better for our students to have them in class but safely, and so that's why we've provided and offered testing and we've offered and provided more vaccinations," he said. "And so we hope that school districts across the state will take us up on that. Many have. Most have. Most are using SHIELD or something else that we've referred them to... the best thing is for kids to be in school and in school safely."
Also, Illinois Secretary of State offices will be closed through Jan. 17.
You’ll have to do things like renewing your license plates or license and filing business service documents online.
On Monday, there were 20,000 new cases. The 7-day average for new cases is around 23,000, which is the highest of the pandemic so far. It comes with a positivity rate of 12.8%, the highest since May of 2020.
Last Thursday, the state broke its own record, seeing more than 30,000 people test positive in a single day. The previous state record was 9,000 cases in one day from fall 2020.
Meanwhile in Missouri, students and teachers in Kirkwood return to school on Wednesday. Those students will be required to wear masks.
The district announced last week it's reversing the decision to drop its mask mandate.