Columbia Public Schools to take 3 days off during omicron surge

Columbia+Public+Schools+to+take+3+days+off+during+omicron+surge

Julia Kim, Staff Writer

Superintendent Brian Yearwood announced students will not be in session for three days starting Friday, Jan. 21 as a result of a surge in the latest COVID-19 variant, Omicron. Columbia Public Schools (CPS) Board of Education plans to formally approve these changes at their work session Jan. 20. 

Jan. 21, Jan. 24 and Jan. 25 will instead serve as teacher-directed work days, where staff have additional time to catch up on work as well as reorganize their lesson plans if needed. The district will also add two early release days on Wednesday, Feb. 9 and Wednesday, March 9, which will give the district one early release day per month, so teachers have an ample amount of work time throughout the semester. 

Student and staff absences have increased this month as Omicron sweeps through Columbia and its schools. As of Jan. 20, CPS reported 80 teachers and 265 students absent from school because of COVID-19—with a weekly substitute fill rate of just 54.1%.

The district began to require masks again from Jan. 18 through Feb. 4 following this sharp increase of COVID-19 cases in the community and multiple student protests fighting to reinstate the mask mandate.

“I’m proud of the district administration for this bold and strategic move. It’s a sign that they are listening to principals, staff and teachers. So far in 2022, many school district employees are overwhelmed, tending to sick children or having been exposed ourselves and covering for missing teachers. We are massively short-staffed and hopefully this will allow our community to bend the curve so as not overwhelm our healthcare system.”

— AP World Studies teacher Gregory Irwin

RBHS principal Jacob Sirna said the district-wide staff shortage has significantly interrupted students’ education through additional stress and anxiety, as teachers are not always available during class. 

“There’s consistently between 15 and 20 people out every day right now since we got back,” Sirna said. “In all those instances, students aren’t getting direct instruction from their teacher. They’re getting the best possible thing we can provide, which is content through Schoology, but we’re missing out on the Q&A that you get to have if there’s a concept that’s difficult or a concept that doesn’t make sense. We’re not getting the ability to talk directly to our teachers and ask those questions.” 

AP World Studies teacher Gregory Irwin said he hopes to not only catch up on grading, but also reformat his lesson plans to increase their accessibility to his students during the added workdays given the uncertainty of one’s health in the midst of the pandemic. 

“I hope to adjust my daily lessons back to the hybrid format for the large number of students who will be quarantining once again,” Irwin said. “I’ll also use the time to put together my data for our district’s data cycle collection on my student’s thesis statement mastery.”

In terms of the effects this decision will have on CPS students, RBHS sophomore Jay Castilow said that while these additional days off will provide temporary relief for students and staff, he does not believe they will help CPS combat COVID-19 in the long run. 

“I haven’t had a normal high school experience yet because COVID-19 started when I was in eighth grade. This year, we’ve had to take breaks such as the one we’re about to have and fight the Board for taking away the mask mandate,” Castilow said. “The addition of the teacher workdays is a good thing, but it’s not effectively combating the entire issue. The only way to do that is the mask mandate being put back in place for longer than just two weeks because that’s truly the only way that we can be doing something to fight this Omicron surge.”

Irwin said he is overall grateful for these additional work days, as the district-wide staff shortage continues to leave him overwhelmed and concerned for CPS and Boone County’s healthcare systems. 

“I’m proud of the district administration for this bold and strategic move,” Irwin said. “It’s a sign that they are listening to principals, staff and teachers. So far in 2022, many school district employees are overwhelmed, tending to sick children or having been exposed ourselves and covering for missing teachers. We are massively short-staffed and hopefully this will allow our community to bend the curve so as not overwhelm our healthcare system.”

What are your thoughts on the board’s decision? Let us know in the comments below.