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SLSD Health Update

Posted on: December 9, 2020
COVID

We are seeing a significant spike in COVID+ cases this week at Harrison High School and Harrison Junior School.  At the high school alone, cases have more than tripled in recent days.  Positive cases, as well as the numbers of both students and staff members who have been forced to quarantine as a result, are putting a strain on our ability to keep our doors open.  As we have mentioned from the start of this school year, our goal is to educate students face-to-face, and with the remote option for those that choose that route, for as long as possible.  We have also spoken to the need for each family to have a plan in place, should it be necessary to switch to remote learning for a certain period of time.  Please make sure your plan is solidified, particularly at these two buildings, in the event remote learning becomes necessary in the coming days. 

Additionally, as many of you have likely noticed in grades K-8, we have been piecing together our bus routes since last week with numerous subs and also squeezing in extra routes for regular drivers.  This has resulted in some new faces in the driver's seat on buses, and also some routes running 5-10 minutes late each day as we try to squeeze extra routes into gaps where there really isn't enough time for us to stay on schedule.  We greatly appreciate our parents' flexibility as they have dealt with these small delays or errors by some sub drivers who are unfamiliar with many of our routes on such short notice.  As we look ahead at our drivers who will continue to be out for an extended period of time, it appears that we will continue to have routes that we cannot cover due to the shortage of bus drivers around the state - which would only get worse if we lose any other drivers to illness between now and then.  With that in mind, there is a possibility that we will be forced to cancel routes completely, as you have seen other districts in our area do this school year.  We will give as much advanced notice as possible if this measure needs to be taken, but we ask that parents begin to brainstorm methods for how they may get students to and from school should this possibility become reality.  Our goal is to continue to piece things together and be able to run every route, every day as we have for the past week.  However, with the option of cancelling routes completely seeming more and more likely, we wanted to get this info out to parents in advance of that happening.  Once again, thank you for your patience with subs and late buses over the past week.  While it's not ideal, we're doing everything we can to continue to get students to and from school and these small delays are better than cancelling routes altogether.

Please click HERE for the bi-weekly health update.