Why your kid’s Kansas City area school is closing, but not going remote amid COVID

Facing severe staffing shortages, several Kansas City area districts haven’t had enough employees to keep schools open. But instead of pivoting to online-only learning, as they did during COVID-19 outbreaks last year, almost all of those districts are canceling classes altogether.

District officials say that’s because they essentially have no other choice, after both Missouri and Kansas placed restrictions on remote learning for this school year. Breaking the rules could mean risking state funding.

And even so, some districts have been so short on teachers, with hundreds calling in sick, that officials say even online classes would not be feasible.

“As many of you know, this year the state allows up to 40 hours of remote learning. Unfortunately, at this time, with the volume of staff illnesses we are unable to conduct remote learning,” Olathe Superintendent Brent Yeager said in a letter to families when the district closed schools earlier this week.

Yeager said the Johnson County district had 800 staff members out sick, about 20% of its workforce.

During the record surge in COVID-19 cases, driven by the highly contagious omicron variant, Kansas City area districts are increasingly strained. Many have shuttered schools this month, hoping to curb the spread of the virus, while others are warning families to prepare for potential closures.

Which schools have closed?

On Wednesday, the Odessa school district, east of Kansas City, announced that it would hold classes virtually on Thursday and Friday, using the limited number of hours granted by the state for remote learning.

And the the Belton school district, in Cass County about 20 minutes south of Kansas City, is holding online-only classes Friday through Tuesday.

But other districts in the region that are in a similar situation have canceled classes entirely.

Students in both the Olathe and Kansas City, Kansas, districts returned Thursday after school closures this week.

In Missouri, the St. Joseph school district, canceled all classes this week. And the Knob Noster school district, in Johnson County, Missouri, on Wednesday extended school closures through Friday “due to a large number of staff and student absences/illnesses.” The district first closed schools last Friday.

Last week in Kansas, the Bonner Springs Edwardsville school district in Wyandotte County canceled classes on Thursday and Friday, saying a quarter of students were out sick. And the De Soto district, in Johnson County, along with the Eudora district in neighboring Douglas County, canceled classes on Friday.

Those districts are using days built into the calendar, for emergencies such as inclement weather, to close schools. But if closures continue, it’s likely that the end of the school year could be extended to make up for the lost instruction hours.

Other major districts, including Blue Valley, North Kansas City, Shawnee Mission and, most recently, Park Hill and Raymore-Peculiar, are warning families that school closures are likely.

“Today, we had more than 200 of our staff members out with illness, and we were only able to cover 54% of those with substitutes. This is more than we have ever seen in the history of the Park Hill School District,” district officials said in a letter to families Thursday.

In Raymore-Peculiar on Wednesday, Superintendent Mike Slagle told families: “Given the current trajectory in the number of positive COVID-19 cases and the lack of available staff to backfill key positions, there is the possibility we may be forced to close a classroom or facilities for a temporary period of time. I assure you that this is our last choice to deal with the issue before us, and we will do everything in our power to prevent closures.”

“I do not write this to alarm you, but to be fully transparent about this potential situation and ask you to think about a personal contingency plan should a temporary closure become necessary.”

How schools try to stay open

Education officials agree that most students learn best in person, in the classroom. So schools are doing all they can to stay open.

Teachers have been instructing multiple classes at once when a substitute isn’t available, giving up planning time and breaks. District administrators have stepped in to teach classes, drive buses and serve food in school cafeterias.

“We’ve had custodians answering phones and everyone with the proper certification has been covering classrooms, from our specials teachers to our instructional coaches to our building and district administrators. This means that we haven’t been able to provide some key services,” Park Hill officials said Thursday. “As illness numbers continue to rise, we are reaching a breaking point. If we do not have enough staff to properly supervise our students, we cannot have school.”

It’s been all hands on deck, educators say, and they agree it’s unsustainable. And in both Missouri and Kansas, education leaders are pleading for relief.

The rules for Missouri schools

So far this month, at least 62 Missouri school districts have had to close their doors for one or more days. That’s nearly 12% of districts in the state, said Mallory McGowin, spokeswoman with the state education department.

If a class or building must temporarily close, Missouri districts can submit a plan to the state, which could allow them up to 36 hours of alternative methods of instruction, or AMI, such as remote learning. Instead of using those limited hours, many districts have opted to cancel classes for a few days.

McGowin said those districts will need to make up those days later in the school year so that they complete their 1,044 required hours of instruction in a school year.

The Missouri State Teachers Association is advocating for districts to have more flexibility, as ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks could prolong closures.

“Missouri schools should be allotted additional AMI days to allow them to close when necessary without being penalized,” Executive Director Bruce Moe wrote in a letter last week.

“Teachers have gone above and beyond to assist colleagues and take on extra students and classes just to maintain a level of in-person learning. They know how important it is to keep schools open,” he wrote. “But with an overwhelming number of teachers out, substitutes nearly impossible to find and student attendance numbers dwindling, some schools have had no choice but to close buildings or even the entire district for extended periods. These closures disrupt their communities and create uncertainty that extends into the spring and early summer as districts shuffle calendars to make up the lost days.”

The rules for Kansas schools

In Kansas, the state Legislature passed a new law restricting remote learning to no more than 40 hours for an individual student.

“As a district, we know the best place for our students is in school learning. With that in mind, the district is being very intentional in safeguarding those remote learning hours so that they are available in case of emergency,” Olathe spokeswoman Becky Grubaugh told The Star. “However, our preference and priority is to keep our buildings open and so that students can learn in person.”

Schools can request waivers from their local boards for an individual student to exceed the 40 hours or for districts to operate remotely for up to 240 hours. The state board of education can grant those waivers in a “disaster,” but it has remained unclear whether the pandemic would qualify, especially at times when the state is not under a COVID-19 state of emergency.

Schools that exceed the limits without waivers would lose some funding. Those students learning remotely would be funded at a lower rate for online students.

Some officials have been advocating for the legislation to change, to provide districts with relief as they deal with surging cases.

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly told reporters last week that it was time to “rethink” those restrictions.

But Rep. Kristey Williams, an Augusta Republican who chairs the House K-12 budget committee, said she’s not interested in revisiting the rules.

“The schools that are closing are not even choosing to use their 40 hours,” Williams said. “This would be a situation that would be true for pre-pandemic. … If you need to close for a specific amount of time you just need to make those hours up.”

Williams said that districts could choose to skip spring break, make up lost days at the end of the year or, as some have been doing, tack on extra minutes to the end of each school day.

Last week, Kansas Education Commissioner Randy Watson said that if staff shortages persist and districts continue to shut down, “I think it would then be a time to get together with the governor, president of the Senate and speaker of the House, because we may need to take a look at something broader than this to make sure we can try to keep schools open.”

The Star’s Jeanne Kuang and Katie Bernard contributed reporting.