GRAPEVINE (WBAP/KLIF)- Schools in Grapevine and Colleyville will be closed January 20-21st due to a surge in Covid-19 cases.
“After a thorough review and discussion of the current state of COVID-19 in GCISD, all campuses and facilities will be closed Thursday, January 20 and Friday, January 21. We will resume in-person instruction on Monday, January 24. During this time additional cleaning and misting will take place at all campuses and facilities,” Grapevine Colleyville ISD said in a letter to parents and students.
GCISD said this decision was made to provide four days for students and staff members who are currently COVID positive to become well.
The district also provided statistics regarding Covid-19 in schools. The district said as of Tuesday, there were 233 new positive student and staff cases. Currently, 683 students are in isolation due to a positive test result and the District needed 169 substitutes and only 76 of those positions were filled for a fill rate of 44%.
“While we have made every effort to continue in-person instruction, it has been negatively impacted for several days due to the increased number of student and staff cases. Thursday, January 20 and Friday, January 21 will be closures and not days to transition to remote learning or remote conferencing. UIL activities may continue as scheduled; however, all other campus activities are canceled,” read the district’s statement.
The district also said it has reviewed the 2021-2022 instructional calendar and there are enough minutes in the calendar to cover one of the days for elementary and high school students. The other day will require use of an inclement weather day originally planned for Monday, April 18. In order to achieve the necessary instructional minutes at middle school, Wednesday, May 25 will now be a full school day, rather than an early dismissal. Additionally, beginning February 1, minutes will be adjusted in the middle school bell schedules to add two minutes in each school day.
“We understand that closing the District is difficult for the community; however, the District has exhausted other staffing options prior to making this decision. District leaders will continue to review the data over the next several days and weeks and will continue to provide updates to the community.”
