COVID-19 causes North Mac to pause classes; close to 2,000 D186 students in exclusion
At least one area school district was not in class Tuesday due to COVID-19.
North Mac school district, which has schools in Virden and Girard, took an emergency day Tuesday due to "continued and increased staffing shortages," according to a Facebook post.
North Mac also used emergency days Thursday and Friday because of positive COVID-19 cases and exposures. The district did not implement remote learning and will have to make up the days at the end of the regular school year.
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The district serves just over 1,600 students in pre-kindergarten through high school in Macoupin, Montgomery and Sangamon counties.
Meanwhile, Springfield School District 186 had 1,970 students in exclusion, according to latest information posted on the district dashboard. The number of teachers and staff members in exclusion has held steady at 113.
District 186 Superintendent Jennifer Gill said there were four "adaptive pauses" reported Tuesday.
Last week, several classrooms over five different elementary schools and the Early Learning Center had to take an "adaptive pause," she said, because of the number of student COVID-19 cases and primary contacts identified.
Under an "adaptive pause," Gill said, students can be away from their classrooms and doing remote learning. In some situations, it can, Gill added, look like a hybrid model with some students present in the classroom and others learning remotely.
"Every situation is different, so we're taking each individual case as it comes and looking and analyzing the situation as it is," Gill said. "It's a lot of work, no matter what.
Ball-Chatham's COVID-19 dashboard information updated on Friday showed 287 students excluded along with 19 teachers and staff members.
According to a district memo, 22 teachers/staff members and 170 students tested positive for COVID-19 from Jan. 6-14.
"We're adjusting our sails where we need to (staffing-wise)," said Ball-Chatham Superintendent Douglas Wood. "We're down a couple of bus drivers, so that might make us re-route (some things) or increase the numbers on a particular route. It's a matter of seeing where some of our challenges are and creating solutions."
No schools or classrooms were in "adaptive pause" Tuesday, said district spokeswoman Betsy Schroeder.
Exclusions include positive cases, close contacts, those who are symptomatic and household members of symptomatic persons.
Most districts were returning to school Tuesday after a three-day weekend for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
That included the Auburn school district which used five emergency days last week and was last in session Jan. 7.
Auburn Superintendent Darren Root said all schools and classes were in session Tuesday.
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Nearly 2,000 Springfield, IL D186 students in COVID exclusion
