Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
A school bus picks up student enrolled in the Vocational Technical Education (VoTech) program from A.D. Johnston Junior/Senior High School just before 8 a.m. on Thursday. This was the first day back for students at ADJ, who had been off since Oct. 9 after five cases and two probable cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed in members of the school district.
By CHARITY SMITH
Bessemer - Students at A.D. Johnston Junior and Senior High School returned to in-person learning on Thursday for the first time since 11 positive cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in the district. However, students at Washington Elementary School are going to remain virtual through Oct. 30, according to an announcement on the district's Facebook page.
Superintendent Dan Niemi told the Daily Globe that the high school has been thoroughly deep-cleaned and the cause for concern at the junior/senior high school level has been alleviated. The decision to remain virtual at the elementary school is due to a lack of substitute teachers, he said.
"Our cases here at the high school have diminished, they've gone down and I think we are good to go (at ADJ)," Niemi said. "We were swinging in the dark there for a little bit and now we got it pinned down and our staff knows exactly what they need to get done. All the rest of this week and all of next week we are going to keep (elementary) kids out (of the building) because we are at the point where we don't have enough subs at the elementary school. We do not have the sub capacity to cover all the instructors at Washington Elementary that need to be quarantined."
According to Niemi, one of the people who was previously diagnosed with COVID-19 is married to one of the teachers at Washington Elementary. He declined to comment on the exact number of subs that would be needed, but he did say that they only have three subs on their list and that they needed more than three. He said that they do not have any confirmed cases among the elementary school staff, but they do have at least one probable and some that need to quarantined. The problem is not with the kids, according to Niemi, but rather with the adults.
"That is the only thing that could hamstring us is if we ended up with some staff members getting it and with the past case that happened, with the person being married to somebody that had it and then that person obviously collaborates with other teachers," Niemi said. "We ended up getting a bunch of people looked at, tested. There's not positives. There may be some probables, but we do have to quarantine some, because they did have that contact."
The teachers will be working from home and instructing their students through the virtual format. Students in grades 3-6 will continue to do their coursework virtually, while students in grades K-2 will be working on paper packets. Attendance for the virtual learners will be taken in both the morning and the afternoon, while students who are learning through the paper packets will receive phone calls from their teacher at least twice a week. According to Niemi, part of the teachers prep work this year was to continuously have paper packets prepared for the students at least a week in advance in case something like this occurred.
"You start thinking about what we could have done different, what could we have changed, how could we have avoided this. But you know what, you can't control a flu. You can't control the weather and you just handle it as it comes. You can complain about it and cause a ruckus, but you know, it is what it is," Niemi said of the entire situation.
The district has reported six probable cases on top of the 11 positive ones.
All students are required to return borrowed Chromebooks when they return to in-person learning.
