Trending
Virtual options are on the table still for public school districts and their families in Washington County, but one factor that's not state-color-code dependent is the availability of staff to keep the physical doors open.
"Last week, we had one day with 16 unfilled absences," explained Marietta City Schools Superintendent Will Hampton of the staffing and substitute shortage he's grappling with as the school district plans to remain separated by cohort into the coming semester.
The same staffing pains required Warren Local Schools to resort to a hybrid learning model beginning Monday, even though the county was not designated "red" by state measurements of coronavirus spread indicators.
"We didn't have enough staff members to really deal with transportation," said Warren Superintendent Kyle Newton. "We had so many staff members out because of being close contacts, or COVID directly, that we just didn't have enough staff members to cover."
The active hybrid model separates students for the first time this school year at Warren Local by grade level and need to reduce bodies in buildings on differing days.
One family out of Frontier Local Schools also reported confusion of a robocall Monday evening about whether the district or only certain buildings or grades would be remote starting middle of this week (Beth Brown, superintendent of the eastern-Washington County school district could not be reached for comment by press time).
And today marks the deadline for Belpre City Schools' families to alert the district if intending to go fully virtual in January.
"Our families are able to opt to come back virtually or to maintain in-person school," said Jeff Greenley, superintendent of Belpre City Schools. "So we're eager to see where those numbers are and to start thinking about planning and staffing to make sure we have everything ready to roll in January."
Friday marks Marietta's deadline and this week is also the week to confirm a switch for Fort Frye Local Schools.
"I think what's hard right now is that the cases are higher than what we experienced in August, September and October," noted Fort Frye Superintendent Stephanie Starcher. "And so people get nervous, they're trying y to use good decision-making to decide what's best for a second semester."
Hampton said one stipulation the Marietta school district is now having to impose on families selecting fully remote is the requirement for academic eligibility or documented medical necessity.
"Right now we have a little more than 30 percent of our 6-12 kids who are fully remote, who are failing," Hampton explained of approximately 470 grades 6-12 who are fully remote (estimated 141 students struggling). "They have to come back to school."
But Hampton, Greenley, Newton and Starcher all noted that identifying students struggling with virtual learning isn't about blaming students or their guardians.
Yes, some are using the remote option to disengage, avoid work and are truant, they said.
But others are simply not thriving in a virtual environment without full classroom support.
"I would just use that phrase 'not being successful,'" added Newton. "It might be that they are trying, it might be that they're not trying. It might be that they don't have the right internet capabilities to run the programs to do what they need to do. There are so many variables that you just increase tenfold when a kid is trying to do online learning compared to when they're in person."
In terms of coronavirus cases, local zip code reporting within Washington County within the last two weeks is one of the factors the school systems keep an eye on:
¯ Cumulative logged 946 cases within the Marietta area zip code (45750); 213 new cases in the last two weeks as of Monday, on Nov. 24 the two-week log was 214 new cases.
¯ Cumulatively logged 277 cases within the Belpre/Dunham area zip code (45714); 74 new cases in the last two weeks as of Monday, on Nov. 24 the two-week log was 62 new cases.
¯ Cumulatively logged 95 cases within the Waterford/Watertown area zip code (45786); 28 new cases in the last two weeks as of Monday, on Nov. 24 the two-week log was 31 new cases.
¯ Cumulatively logged 63 cases within the Lowell/Coal Run/Rainbow area zip code (45744); 19 new cases in the last two weeks as of Monday, on Nov. 24 the two-week log was 20 new cases.
¯ Cumulatively logged 69 cases within the Beverly area zip code (45715); 23 new cases in the last two weeks as of Monday, on Nov. 24 the two-week log was 17 new cases.
¯ Cumulatively logged 77 cases within the Barlow/Vincent area zip code (45784); 23 new cases in the last two weeks as of Monday, on Nov. 24 the two-week log was 16 new cases.
¯ Cumulatively logged 50 cases within the New Matamoras/Grandview area zip code (45767); 8 new cases in the last two weeks as of Monday, on Nov. 24 the two-week log was 15 new cases.
¯ Cumulatively logged 38 cases within the Fleming area zip code (45729); 5 new cases in the last two weeks as of Monday, on Nov. 24 the two-week log was 14 new cases.
¯ Cumulatively logged 37 cases within the Whipple/Stanleyville area zip code (45788); 12 new cases in the last two weeks as of Monday, on Nov. 24 the two-week log was 12 new cases.
¯ Cumulatively logged 63 cases within the Little Hocking area zip code (45742); 8 new cases in the last two weeks as of Monday, on Nov. 24 the two-week log was 11 new cases.
¯ Cumulatively logged 36 cases within the Bartlett/Cutler area zip code (45724); 16 new cases in the last two weeks as of Monday, on Nov. 24 the two-week log was 10 new cases.
¯ Cumulatively logged 27 cases within the Lower Salem/Germantown area zip code (45745); no new cases in the last two weeks as of Monday, on Nov. 24 the two-week log was 7 new cases.
¯ Cumulatively logged 35 cases within the Newport area zip code (45768); 9 new cases in the last two weeks as of Monday, on Nov. 24 the two-week log was 5 new cases.
¯ Cumulatively logged 10 cases within the Macksburg area zip code (45746); no new cases in the last two weeks as of Monday.
All of the data logged is courtesy of the Ohio Department of Health and Marietta-Belpre Health Department has warned that cases are expected to spike today during reporting due to a change in measurement of verification of antigen tests.
¯ Cumulatively logged 9 cases within the Stockport area zip code (43787); 5 new cases in the last two weeks as of Monday.
¯ Cumulatively logged 5 cases within the Wingett Run zip code (45789); no new cases in the last two weeks as of Monday,
¯ Unknown zip within Washington County: 8 cases cumulatively, none identified in the last two weeks.
All of the data logged is courtesy of the Ohio Department of Health and Marietta-Belpre Health Department has warned that cases are expected to spike today during reporting due to a change in measurement of verification of antigen tests.