The Climax-Shelly School District has moved grades 7-12 to a distance learning model for the next two weeks. Climax-Shelly Superintendent Michael Underwood said the change was made based on local occurrences of COVID-19 rather than the county-wide increase, “it was a little more local than that. We had an uptick in cases and in close contacts both within our student and staff population.”
Underwood explained that the students in grade 7-12 would hopefully return to a hybrid model before Thanksgiving. “As of yesterday morning, our secondary school grades 7-12 entered into a distance learning model,” said Underwood. “We anticipate that would be a two-week period and students would be able to return to school on November 16. We would be returning to the hybrid model which is an A/B model with students returning to school on Monday/Tuesday in the A group, and Thursday/Friday in the B group. When the students aren’t in school the expectation is that they continue to participate in distance learning with the students that are in the building.”
The changes do not impact Pre-K through 6th grade within the district but will affect athletics and other activities. “At this time, our elementary Pre-K through 6th-grade is still full-time face-to-face learning,” said Underwood. “We’re hoping that we can hold onto the into the future. For the next two weeks, all of our athletics and other activities are either postponed or canceled depending on the ability of the coaches and AD to reschedule contests.”
Underwood added he appreciated the support of the community in the district. “We appreciate the patience and support of our school community in working with us,” said Underwood. “Together we’ll get through this.”
