Schools
Another Day Of Distance Learning For Many Coventry Students
Staffing shortages forced high school students to start the week learning from home, while others could see delays at the bus stop.
COVENTRY, RI — The ongoing COVID-19 surge across Rhode Island continues to cause staffing shortages at Coventry schools. After two days of distance learning to end last week, Coventry high schoolers are again learning from home Monday and Tuesday.
As of Thursday, the first day of distance learning for CHS, 43 staff members were absent, many due to coronavirus cases or exposures, the school department said, along with 400 absent students.
"We expect that this number will continue to grow based on the number of staff with symptoms who are seeking to get tested or waiting for results - and subsequent contact tracing of all new positive student, teacher and staff cases," read a statement released Thursday.
Find out what's happening in Coventryfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Sunday evening, the situation had not much improved.
"We have continued to closely monitor the status of our quarantined faculty and staff over the course of the weekend in the hopes of re-opening full, in-person teaching and learning this week," school officials said. "Unfortunately, we have had additional Covid positive adults and students added to our numbers over the weekend. As a result, we do not yet have sufficient faculty and staff to open safely and provide students with an appropriate educational environment and experience."
Find out what's happening in Coventryfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The plan is to return to in-person learning at the high school on Wednesday, at which point students and staff will be able to safely return to class.
During the staff shortages, distance learning allows for more direct learning, the school department said, since students can interact with quarantined teachers rather than a substitute.
Some middle school students also had a distance learning day Monday, due to ongoing staffing shortages. Students on teams 7C, 8A and 8C were directed to learn from home.
Students who did learn in-person Monday morning may have seen delays at the bus stop, due to a shortage of drivers.
In a non-pandemic wrinkle, Western Coventry School students also had a distance learning day Monday, due to a lack of water in the building.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
