Published:Jan. 11, 2022 at 3:59 PM EST
SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - We are learning more about the spread of COVID-19 in Savannah-Chatham schools thatlead to the closure of three high schoolsthis week.
A staff shortage is the reason the Johnson, Beach and Islands high schools have gone to virtual learning until next Monday.
During a news conference Tuesday afternoon – district officials say they expect more “rolling closures” in the coming weeks as the number of COVID cases continues to rise.
They have a plan in place to mitigate and easily pivot to virtual learning. And expect high schools will be the hardest hit because student schedules at that age often are moving and mixing among more classes than lower grade levels.
Elementary school students are more contained to classrooms and have seating charts, which is why district officials expect quarantines in elementary school to be contained to classrooms and not affect the entire school.
“As a school district we are committed to holding in person learning 5 days a week, we do recognize that there is the potential and the likelihood for pandemic pivots to a virtual setting. So, we want all of our parents and our families to know that there is a potential in any given week depending on transmission or service availability from staff outages that we could shift to virtual and rolling closures could be something that is part of our regular narrative over the next several weeks,” said Kurt Hetager, Chief Public Affairs and Administrative Services Officer.
Athletic schedules could also be impacted so any student athletes should contact their coaches for any game or practice cancellations.
At this time, Beach, Johnson and Islands High schools are expected to resume in-person classes on Tuesday, January 18.
Copyright 2022 WTOC. All rights reserved.