Staffing shortages force Mascoutah schools to change course after winter break

Mascoutah School District 19 is closing schools on Thursday and Friday because of staffing shortages due to COVID-19 and quarantines, the district said in an email sent to families on Wednesday.

School is suspended on Thursday and Friday, rather than moved to remote learning, as some other metro-east districts have done this week. Those two days will be made up at the end of the year. The last day of the school year is now May 26.

Mascoutah plans to return to in-person school on Monday with a modified schedule.

Elementary students will have a full day with breakfast and lunch served, but high school and middle school students will have five hours of in-person learning before they’re sent home with a sack lunch.