BOISE, Idaho — The Minidoka County School District will not hold in-person classes on Thursday, Jan. 27.
In a Facebook post Wednesday morning, school officials mentioned "staffing shortages" as the reason. Also, students will have an online learning day and will need to log into online classes Thursday and complete assignments.
The Nampa School District last week extended some previously announced school closures and added some schools to the list of those that will be temporarily closed due to high rates of illness among students and staff.
"Even with five schools on temporary closure, we had over 150 staff out and 53 unfilled classrooms today, Jan. 21," school officials said Friday in a post on Facebook. "We have deployed all available staff and had numerous volunteers step up to assist in covering classrooms and duties, but we are still short of meeting our needs."
The Nampa School District announced the following school closures for the week beginning Monday, Jan. 24.
- Nampa Early Childhood Learning Center – Monday, Jan. 24-Tuesday, Jan. 25
- Gateways – Monday, Jan. 24-Friday, Jan. 28
- Reagan Elementary – Monday, Jan. 24-Friday, Jan. 28
- Lake Ridge Elementary – Monday, Jan. 24-Friday, Jan. 28
- Lone Star Middle School – Monday, Jan. 24-Friday, Jan. 28
NSD administrators also say they continue to watch other schools that have experienced high staff absentee rates, and will inform families if additional closures are needed.
Centennial Elementary, New Horizons Dual Language and East Valley Middle School were closed Friday. The district said they will reopen on Monday, Jan. 24 as planned.
The Parma, Twin Falls and Basin school districts on Thursday announced temporary emergency closures because of a high rate of illness among students and staff.
In a Facebook post Thursday evening, the Basin School District in Idaho City announced it will not have school Friday, Jan. 21 due to "staff shortage and illness."
The Basin School District also asked any volunteers who would like to substitute for food service, custodial, maintenance or as a substitute teacher, to visit the Idaho City High School office at 100 Centerville Rd.
Parma Superintendent Stoney T. Winston has announced that the district is canceling school Friday, Jan. 21. School is expected to resume Monday, Jan. 24.
"We are at a point where we are struggling to staff classrooms, and even have some classrooms with over a third (or more) of their class absent," Winston wrote. "We seem to have hit a mixture of COVID, flu and possibly other illnesses."
In his online message, Winston said extracurricular activities will continue if team numbers allow. Athletes will be screened prior to departure to ensure they do not have any illness.
There will be no remote learning during the closure.
An announcement from the Twin Falls School District says all schools would be closed to students on Friday, Jan. 21, and early-release times for Monday, Jan. 24, and Monday, Jan. 31, will be adjusted. All healthy staff are told to report to school Friday for planning and to prepare for coverage of absent staff.
The Dietrich School District cancelled school for Thursday, Jan. 20, and doesn't have school on Fridays. All games scheduled through Saturday will be played as scheduled, but athletes and fans are asked to not attend games if they have any symptoms or feel ill.
For the current list of school closures or moves to all-remote learning due to student and staff illness, go to this link.
The list will be updated if and when any additional closures are confirmed.
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