Kansas schools close amid COVID surge and staffing crisis; educators hope for time to get healthy

The coronavirus pandemic continues to surge in Kansas, forcing more than a dozen schools to cancel classes as state regulators loosened education requirements to become a substitute teacher.

With Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, educators expressed hope the closures combined with the three-day holiday weekend will stem the wave of sickness from COVID-19, influenza and other illnesses.

At least one district is moving to remote learning, and another has said it may also.

The school disruptions come as the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reports rising case rates and 26 active school clusters. Hospital leaders say they are overwhelmed with unvaccinated COVID-19 patients amid a staffing emergency.

More: Kansas hospitalizations could double amid COVID surge. Hospital leaders say help is still needed

Fairfield USD 310 near Hutchinson canceled Friday classes and all after-school activities for the next week. Starting Tuesday, the district will shift to remote learning.

"COVID has hit us hard at Fairfield among students and staff, and the situation has become unsustainable because of so many adults and students gone due to the rapid spread of the virus," district officials announced.

The district treated Friday like a snow day and used the time off to allow janitorial staff to deep-clean the building.

"We are so sorry for how this inconveniences everyone, but we simply do not have enough adults or substitute teachers to keep having a normal school day," officials said. "In addition we have more students out each day as the virus and other illnesses continue to spread."

Remote learning can't be a long-term solution because of a provision in last year's school finance bill that threatened to cut funding to districts that hold online classes for more than a week.

There are potential ways around the 40-hour limit on remote schooling, including in the case of a disaster that restricts school operations, but uncertainty remains over ambiguous language.

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, who signed the bill, urged the Republican-controlled Legislature to reconsider the remote learning provisions.

"There was a lot more in the bill than just that," Kelly told reporters Friday. "And sometimes you just need to get things done, and there are things in it that you don't particularly like, but for the greater good you go ahead and take care of it.

"I am hoping that the Legislature will recognize what is happening and perhaps modify that statute."

At Caney Valley, west of Coffeyville, district leadership warned "we may have to pivot to remote instruction" starting Tuesday if attendance continues to drop or if more staff members get sick. Eight days into the spring semester, average attendance was about 80%.

COVID-19 forces closures

More than a dozen school districts canceled classes at the end of the week. Some opted to use snow days built into the calendar.

Activities and athletics continuance varied by district, as did plans for whether to require students and staff to mask when they return to the classroom.

Despite evidence from Kansas schools showing mask mandates are effective at reducing the size and number of outbreaks, many boards of education have been reluctant to require masks.

More: 'Schools are becoming weary of the fight' on masks, Kansas education commissioner says

Manhattan-Ogden USD 383 canceled Friday classes. District officials said they typically average about 50 licensed staff absences per day, with an average of five necessary positions going unfilled by substitutes. But over the past week, the district has averaged 85 absences with 15 positions unfilled by subs.

"With our entire district short-staffed since winter break, and a recognition that high levels of performance are not sustainable under these conditions, the decision was made to provide all students and staff with a four-day weekend to hopefully get healthy," district administrators said.

De Soto USD 232, on the edge of the Kansas City metro, canceled Friday classes in anticipation of missing about 20% of classroom teachers. Through Thursday, the district had nearly 100 teaching positions go unfilled. Meanwhile, about 10% of students have been absent due to illness.

"This is having a negative impact on our daily instruction for students," administrators said, adding that they are hopeful the weekend "will provide the recovery individuals need to avoid further disruption to the learning process."

Other schools that announced closures include El Dorado USD 490, Bonner Springs and Edwardsville USD 204, Eudora USD 491, Wellsville USD 289, Pittsburg USD 250, Fort Scott USD 234, Galena USD 499, Arma USD 246, Frontenac USD 249, Baxter Springs USD 508, and Fredonia USD 484.

"This delay will hopefully break this cycle of positive cases," said Fredonia Superintendent Brian Smith.

Galena officials also expressed concern over limited testing supplies.

Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported Wednesday 26 active outbreaks statewide at schools, with another five clusters at sports. The agency publicly identified outbreaks at several schools.

• Anthony Elementary School in Anthony.

• Children's Village Monessori in Overland Park.

• Heartspring School in Wichita.

• Marion Middle/High School in Marion.

• North Fairview Elementary School in Topeka Seaman.

• Oak Hill Elementary School in Overland Park.

• Peabody Burns High School in Peabody.

• Soderstrom Elementary School in Lindsborg.

• USD 321 Rossville.

• USD 417 Elementary School in Council Grove.

• Wamego Schools.

• Shawnee Mission West High School in Overland Park.

• Wabaunsee Junior High in Paxico.

State loosens sub qualifications

In a move designed to alleviate staffing challenges, the Kansas State Board of Education on Wednesday declared an emergency and temporarily removed college credit requirements for emergency substitute teacher licenses.

The move allows short-staffed school districts to hire adults with high school diplomas but no college education as substitutes. The subs must also pass background checks and be fingerprinted.

Typically, substitute teachers need 60 credit hours of college classes. There is no such requirement for the temporary emergency authorized license, which can only be used during the spring 2022 semester.

"Although this is far from an ideal or perfect solution, we have to offer relief to Kansas teachers and schools," said Kansas education commissioner Randy Watson. "The COVID-19 pandemic has stretched our teacher ranks thin, and there simply aren’t enough licensed individuals to fill substitute roles when our educators are sick or otherwise have to be out of the classroom."

The Kansas Association of School Boards, the United School Administrators of Kansas and the Kansas National Education Association all supported the move while acknowledging that it is not ideal.

"As we continue to look to medical experts for guidance, keeping students in classrooms with highly qualified educators is our priority," said Kevin Riemann, KNEA executive director. "We support this temporary, but necessary, step because it gives school staff time to recover from illness without putting additional and unsustainable pressure on an already thin workforce."

School district COVID rates

Below is a searchable database of presumed student case and vaccination rates. The data was released by KDHE on Friday and covers the two-week period that ended Jan. 9. Cases diagnosed in the past week and new vaccinations are not included.

Andrew Bahl of the Capital-Journal contributed reporting.

Jason Tidd is a statehouse reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jtidd@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jason_Tidd.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas school closures for COVID student sickness, teacher shortage