Middle and high school students in Manitou Springs will attend all classes remotely through the end of the calendar year, the district announced Tuesday, mirroring the decisions of other area districts as COVID-19 rates continue to surge in the county and statewide.
The news comes as the district battles active outbreaks at three of its four schools: its elementary, middle and high schools in Manitou Springs. Its Ute Pass Elementary School in Chipita Park has not experienced an outbreak, according to the county health department website, which was last updated Nov. 11.
An outbreak of three cases was declared at the middle school on Nov. 8. An outbreak of two cases was declared at the elementary school on Nov. 4. An outbreak of 12 cases was declared at the high school on Oct. 7, according to health department data, which is updated weekly.
The district will make a decision on learning plans for elementary students on Friday, Superintendent Elizabeth Domangue wrote in a Tuesday email to families.
"These decisions are based on our ability to staff all schools with licensed and classified staff for students in ways that provide consistency and continuity," she wrote. "In-person learning will always be our goal. I feel these decisions deeply, as I know how much they impact students, families and staff."
The district's high school students are currently in remote learning and will remain in such a mode, according to Domangue's email. Middle school students will begin remote learning next week.
Colorado Springs School District 20, the city's largest, announced last week that middle and high school students would transition to online learning after Thanksgiving break, through the remainder of the calendar year. On Monday the district announced elementary students would do the same, citing quarantines and self-isolations that affected staffing numbers.
The decision is not due to transmission within schools, but community transmission that "results in large-scale quarantines and isolations, which then impact our ability to staff schools," D-20 Superintendent Tom Gregory wrote Friday in an email to parents, adding that the move, while less than ideal, will provide consistency to students and staff."We will be able to consider in-person learning when the community is able to reasonably control transmission," he wrote.
Also last week, Colorado Springs School District 11, the city's second largest district, and Harrison School District 2, in southeast Colorado Springs, announced they would transition to online learning after Thanksgiving break through the end of the year, citing similar staffing difficulties because of quarantines.
Earlier this month Falcon School District 49 became the first Pikes Peak-region district to shut down in-person classes. All instruction, with the exception of students with special needs, transitioned online as of last week.
All area districts to make such shifts have said they will reconsider in-person learning next semester, depending on the prevalence of the virus in the community. They generally continue to offer in-person learning to special populations that require it.
Earlier this month the state announced that Colorado schools from preschool through college would be able to continue in-person operations — even during a stay-at-home order — as "critical businesses."
While the state continues to recommend that schools switch to remote learning, with "very limited" in-person services, during a stay-at-home order, "local districts are able to make determinations on how to structure the format of education based on local factors," a spokeswoman for the state's Joint Information Center told The Gazette.
Preschool through 12th grade schools are required to work with state and local public health officials and follow guidance amid suspected and confirmed cases of COVID-19. Post-secondary institutions may provide classroom and lab education, as long as social-distancing is observed, according to the order.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis — at a Tuesday press conference announcing a special session of the state legislature related to the economic impact of the virus, as well as new levels of restrictions, said the state was working with school districts to encourage the continuance or resurrection of in-person learning for preschool through 5th grade students. The state is recommending in-person, hybrid or remote learning for middle school students, he said, and generally online learning for higher education.
There is a "need" for the state's youngest students to return to in-person learning, he said.
"We feel, based on the data, for many families, that it is the safest place they can be," he said. "We encourage that in-person service so our children's futures are not yet another casualty of this pandemic."
In a statement Tuesday, the Colorado Education Association said it was "disappointed" that Polis advocated those younger students remain in school.
"As community spread increases, it becomes increasingly difficult for schools to maintain appropriate staffing levels to remain open," the association's president, Amie Baca-Oehlert, said. "School districts across Colorado are putting forth valiant efforts to safely remain open for in-person learning, but they are facing tremendous barriers on a daily basis."
Gazette reporter Seth Klamann contributed to this report.
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