Grapevine-Colleyville ISD closes schools until Monday due to COVID-19 outbreak

The Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District will close down for the remainder of the week amid rising COVID-19 cases and lack of staff.

“After a thorough review and discussion of the current state of COVID-19 in GCISD, all campuses and facilities will be closed Thursday, January 20 and Friday, January 21,” a release from the school district said. “We will resume in-person instruction on Monday, January 24. During this time additional cleaning and misting will take place at all campuses and facilities.”

The district said within the last 24 hours, over 230 students and staff members had tested positive for the virus, with nearly 700 students in isolation after a positive test result.

“[Wednesday,] the district needed 169 substitutes and only 76 of those positions were filled for a fill rate of 44%,” the school district said. “While we have made every effort to continue in-person instruction, it has been negatively impacted for several days due to the increased number of student and staff cases.”

The missed classes will not be conducted remotely.

High school and elementary students will need to make up one of the canceled school days, which is scheduled for April 18. The date was initially scheduled for an inclement weather day.

For the middle schools, a planned early dismissal on May 25 will transition into a full school day.

“Additionally, beginning February 1, minutes will be adjusted in the middle school bell schedules to add two minutes in each school day,” the school district said. “More information about this adjustment will be communicated directly from the individual middle school campuses.”

All after-school activities were also canceled.

“The district has exhausted other staffing options prior to making this decision,” the release said. “District leaders will continue to review the data over the next several days and weeks and will continue to provide updates to the community.”