Colorado School Reopening Updates: Adams 12 Moves Elementary Students To Remote Learning

Arvada CO

10 November, 2020

1:36 PM

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From Chalkbeat Colorado: By Chalkbeat Staff Updated Nov 9, 2020 Get news and updates on Colorado school districts' evolving fall plans below. Know something we should know? Have questions we could answer? Write us at [email protected]. Adams 12 Five Star Schools elementary students to start learning from home Less than a month after moving its middle and high school students to remote learning, Adams 12 Five Star Schools is moving its elementary students to remote learning, as well, starting Nov. 16. Superintendent Chris Gdowski announced the change Monday. "Simply put, we've now reached the point at which the benefits of in-person learning for our youngest students are outweighed by the disruption caused by abrupt transitions to quarantines and by the risk of COVID exposures within our schools," he wrote, describing "unrelenting increases in COVID cases." Adams County, located north and west of Denver and encompassing many working class suburban communities, has some of the highest rates of COVID-19 in Colorado and is among the counties at risk of new "Stay At Home" orders on the state's dial system. That system still gives school districts discretion about whether to hold classes in person or online. Gdowski said that Adams 12 has seen more than 200 staff and students test positive for COVID, leading to quarantines for more than 3,300 students and 600 staff. In the last 10 days, seven elementary schools had to go to remote learning for a two-week period due to positive cases, with four of those having to make the switch between Friday afternoon and Sunday evening. Schools that are still open will remain so through Friday. Students will start learning from home next Monday. Adams 12 schools will remain remote through the end of the fall semester Dec. 17. Gdowski said the district may not immediately return to in-person learning after Winter Break because public health experts are expecting another surge after the holidays even if Colorado manages to curtail cases before then. Nonetheless, families will be asked to decide whether they want their students enrolled in person or online by the end of Thanksgiving Break. — Erica Meltzer This story was originally published by Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news organization covering public education. Sign up for their newsletters here.