Statehouse News Bureau
Indian Springs Elementary is one of the buildings in the Olentangy Local School District that closed Monday because not enough substitutes were available to cover for teachers who were out after being vaccinated.
Nearly all Ohio schools are returning to in-person or hybrid learning after pledging to do so to get vaccines for employees. Now at least one Central Ohio district has closed several of its buildings Monday because there were not enough substitute teachers to fill in for teachers experiencing symptoms from recent COVID vaccines.
The Olentangy Local School district had to close two of its high schools, one middle school, and six elementary buildings because of a substitute teacher shortage. Many of the school district’s staff who received their second COVID vaccine over the weekend are suffering with side effects. A spokeswoman for Olentangy says the district had substitutes ready to come in but didn t have enough to cover the shortage.
Olentangy Schools parents, students share thoughts on returning to class full time
“We recognize that in-person learning has not been associated with community spread. But the reason we waited until staff was vaccinated was because staff transmission was of greatest concern,” Raiff told board members during their Feb. 25 meeting.
Berlin High School junior Cameron Pack said she’s glad to be returning to full in-person classes, despite some concerns over how that’s going to look and feel.
“I’m a little nervous to see how it’s going to work in the classroom,” Pack said. “Doubling the number of students makes me nervous. A couple of my classes already have 20 people in hybrid, so how are they going to allow for us to keep a distance? On the other hand, some of my classes are very small.
Kindergarten enrollment drops statewide amid the pandemic
More students across Ohio are going back into the classrooms. Many though, never started school in the first place. Author: Lindsey Mills Updated: 5:45 PM EST March 2, 2021
When the pandemic hit, Leslie Vesha s children started learning remotely, full-time. We have a family member who is very high-risk, and so we made the decision to keep everyone, even the older school age girls home we agreed to, we signed up to remote-only learning through Dublin, said the mom of four kids.
Vesha has one daughter getting ready to enter kindergarten, but she s not sure if she s ready.
Construction on and installation of security vestibules and ADA-compliant playgrounds at a number of Olentangy school buildings will be completed this summer, a year later than originally planned.
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Acknowledging shared struggles is at the heart of the 2021 One Community Conference presented by the Olentangy Schools.
The seventh annual event, which focuses on respecting diversity and building community, is being held virtually over a number of days. Before the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, the conference was a daylong affair of keynote speakers, student presentations and a resource fair.
”Healing Through One Community” began with an “MLK Day of Service” on Jan. 19, for which community members could prepare donation packages for local nonprofits that address domestic violence. Jackie Merkle, curriculum supervisor of equity and inclusion whose office oversees the conference, said cars were lined up on Graphics Way to make donations at the district administration offices, 7840 Graphics Way.