Franklin County High School returned to all-virtual learning through Nov. 4 because of a staff shortage caused by the need to self-isolate in response to reported COVID-19 cases.
According to a letter sent to Franklin County parents Oct. 28 by county schools Superintendent Mark Church, high school students will return to the regular schedule Nov. 5.
These days, with social distancing in place to impede the spread of the coronavirus, regular schedule means that half of the students attend classes in person Monday and Tuesday, and the other half attends Thursday and Friday, with virtual classes on all remaining weekdays.
The district took a similar measure from Oct. 8-18 that affected grades 6-12. Just as he did then, Church emphasized that the schools have not seen an outbreak. Rather, the number of teachers and staff who are self-quarantining out of an abundance of caution (in response in cases reported to the school) has risen to the point that there’s not enough personnel available to keep the high school open.
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“We believe temporarily reverting to full virtual learning will allow our current quarantining staff to finish their quarantine and it will curb some of the greater community issues from potentially spreading within the schools,” wrote Church in the letter.
At the end of last month, Franklin County has seen a significant spike in COVID-19 cases. Late last week, the Virginia Department of Health website showed a seven-day average of 20 new cases reported per day.
Special education classes in the high school are not affected and will continue as normal.
