“While we want nothing more than to have students in our buildings for in-person learning, if Montgomery County does move to the purple alert level, we will be forced to move to full-remote learning on November 30, as the health and safety of our students, staff and families is and always will be my top priority,” Inskeep said in an email late Friday afternoon.
“All students will be engaged in remote learning and we will not be able to provide services to students in our buildings,” he added.
The ODH last week put the county on the Level 4 watch list due to a surge in coronavirus cases. The county has been at Level 3, which health officials term a “very high exposure and spread,” for many weeks.
Level 4 is defined as a “severe exposure and spread,” according to the PHDMC website.
Kettering is the largest district in the county yet to announce a change to in-person instruction plans recently amid rising COVID-19 cases.
Centerville and Dayton officials recently announced changes in those districts.
Kettering and many other districts are on Thanksgiving break this week. Last week, Kettering schools reported 23 active confirmed coronavirus cases among students and staff, according to its website.
That is four fewer cases the school district reported the previous week.
For nearly two weeks, Kettering has been offering two-day a week in-person instruction for the first time since March, when Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine ordered a school shutdown due to the coronavirus.
From Nov. 7-13, Kettering reported 27 confirmed coronavirus cases among students and staff.
As of Nov. 16, Kettering had reported 92 total cases among its 7,561 students and 1.120 staff, its website states.
The district has also witnessed a shortage in bus drivers, an issue which predates the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said.
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