Collinsville School Moves To Distance Learning After Staff Concerns

Classes at Collinsville’s Herald Elementary have moved online and out of the building this week. The district is dealing with a rise in COVID-19 cases forcing isolations and quarantines.

Superintendent Lance West told News On 6 the district has a threshold for each school site to determine when it is time to close buildings. He said this threshold was met after evaluating the amount of teachers who are isolated or quarantined.

The district’s latest numbers indicate 10 staff members at Herald Elementary are either isolated with a positive case or quarantined. West said no other school sites are close to meeting their thresholds.

He said positive cases and close contacts for students are usually manageable because they can take part in distance learning. For teachers, it becomes more difficult because of staffing issues and a lack of substitute teachers.

West said the week out of the building should be helpful. He said he expected about 95 percent of those isolated or quarantined to return when Herald Elementary reopens on Monday.

“We went over 12 weeks without any disruptions so I feel pretty good about where we’re at. We’ve just got to keep maintaining,” said West. “We’ve got to keep wearing masks, we’ve got to keep trying to social distance as best we can, we’ve got to keep cleaning our hands and disinfecting.”

A running total of the district's COVID-19 status can be found here.