蜜桃影视

A dramatic spike in COVID-19 cases across Ohio has forced the Cleveland school district to scrap plans to bring its most 鈥渁cademically vulnerable鈥� students back to school buildings next month, opting instead for online classes for all students until January at the earliest.

Cleveland on Friday joined a wave of urban school districts like, , and , delaying or halting plans to bring students back to school, often in phases and often with neediest students first, because of a fall surge in COVID-19 cases.

Cleveland, which has been offering online-only classes all fall, had targeted the Nov. 9 start of the second grading quarter as a possible start of a 鈥渉ybrid鈥� mix of online and in-person classes.

Though district CEO Eric Gordon considered bringing early grades back first and leaving older students online, he focused in recent weeks on kids with special needs. He said Friday he had hoped for a phased re-opening next month for students with disabilities, English Language Learners who need extra support, seniors who are off-track for graduation and Career Technical Education students who need on-site training to earn career certifications.

Gordon said Friday that return would have been voluntary for students, who would have the option of sticking with online classes.

That plan would have been similar to other districts in the , San Antonio and areas, who have prioritized students with special needs, or the youngest ones.

But halted those plans. Ohio has broken its record for new COVID-19 cases four times since Oct. 9, setting it higher and higher each time. Ohio鈥檚 2,234 new cases in a single day last week is now well over its summer peak of 1,733 and its spring peak of 1,380.

“What really is at stake is all the things we value,鈥� Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said in a briefing last week. 鈥淚t’s not going to be whether I shut the state down or don’t shut the state down鈥�If the outbreak is so bad that you can’t put teachers in a classroom, then you can’t put students in the classroom [then] these kids will be learning remotely.鈥�

Cleveland鈥檚 county, Cuyahoga, going from orange on Ohio鈥檚 COVID risk rating system to red on Thursday convinced Gordon to change his plan. Schools will stay closed until after the holiday break.

Gordon had also hoped to allow some athletic teams to play against other schools in the district, but that plan is also delayed.

Gordon said he could revisit bringing some students back to school after the holidays if health conditions improve. But, there鈥檚 only a short window – January 4 to January 22 – between the end of the holiday break and the end of the second quarter.

鈥淚 want to stress though that this will be solely dependent upon the public health data as the health and safety of our children, parents and caregivers, and our educators continues to be the Board of Education鈥檚 and my top priority,鈥� Gordon added.

The plan still needs school board approval at its Oct. 27 meeting, but board members last week were cautious about any return to school, even before the county shifted from orange to red.

鈥淲hatever we do, my concerns are the health and safety of students, family and staff,鈥� said Robert Heard, board鈥檚 vice chairman.

Board member Sara Elaqad worried that if students returned to school, a rise in cases might force remote learning again and disrupt the year.

鈥淭hat is a very real likelihood, especially as the temperatures change and people are indoors with each other more,鈥� she said last Tuesday. 鈥淚 almost feel like it would be better to plan for a little bit longer remote time and be able to do it better and better.鈥�

Parents were also split on whether they were comfortable with students returning to school. Gordon said a district survey the first week of October, before the record COVID-19 case numbers were announced, showed that 68 percent of parents were not comfortable or only slightly comfortable sending students back.

The survey showed similar results among school staff, with 64 percent not comfortable or only slightly comfortable working in school buildings. Less than 20 percent were 鈥渆xtremely鈥� or 鈥渜uite鈥� comfortable.

Gordon told the board that he did not want to set a plan that parents and staff wouldn鈥檛 want to follow.

鈥淧eople will vote with their feet,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f we move to a hybrid model but nearly half of the kids don鈥檛 come back, we will not be able to effectively service our kids.鈥�

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