HOPE — Families from the Flat Rock-Hawcreek School Corp. should expect an announcement today on whether eLearning will continue after Thanksgiving break.
An internal email will be sent to staff, and families will also be notified, Superintendent Shawn Price said. He added that the announcement would likely also be posted on the schools’ social media pages.
The school corporation began eLearning on Tuesday, with Monday off as a day of preparation. Parents were notified of the move last week.
Price said that factors in this decision included issues with staffing classrooms and the growing number of close contacts having to quarantine.
“Just over the course of last week that kind of made our decision, at the high school level we had roughly or approximately about 100 people that had been, just in that week, quarantined as close contacts,” he said.
On its website, the school corporation reported 21 confirmed positive COVID-19 cases for the week ending Nov. 13. This includes 16 cases from Hauser Jr./Sr. High School and five from Hope Elementary School.
The school corporation has been releasing weekly updates on COVID-19 case numbers since mid-August, with the first reported week being the week ending Aug. 14. Each update only includes the week’s numbers and is not a running total. The total number of reported cases adds up to 32.
Price said that school buildings are still serving some students in person, such as those at risk academically and special education students, albeit with social distancing and other protocols. He said that athletics and extracurriculars are still going on, with some activities taking place in person when necessary.
“It’s really at the building-level discretion as to what is necessary to come in,” he said.
Price added that, if necessary, students who are having internet issues can come to in-person help sessions.
“They’re used to eLearning days,” Price said of Flat Rock-Hawcreek students. “So they’ll put in help tickets, and they’ll be communicating through several different methods with teachers, having those class meetings on a daily basis to meet virtually. So they are getting help and support through virtual avenues. And really, what we’re trying to do is not have students come in unless it’s absolutely necessary and it can’t be done virtually.”
Price said that for this past week of eLearning, meals were distributed Monday evening, with families picking up all of their breakfasts and lunches for the week in a single stop.
