More southwest IL school districts shift to remote learning between the holidays

More metro-east school districts have announced plans to switch to remote learning after Thanksgiving, given rising COVID-19 numbers.

Grant Community Consolidated School District 110 and Edwardsville School District 7 will both start remote learning Nov. 30, with plans to return after Christmas Break.

All Waterloo School District 5 schools will go remote Monday; the high school and middle school were remote before Thanksgiving. While the district hopes to resume in-person learning Dec. 7, the district noted that remote learning might continue until Christmas as well.

At a special board meeting Saturday, Grant 110 board members and administrators discussed the current increase in COVID-19 cases, as well as concerns about how the holidays might produce further spikes.

St. Clair County officials said Sunday that the region’s number of COVID-19 cases surged after Halloween, which likely saw less travel than Thanksgiving will.

The Grant school board split its vote, 4-3, on the decision to return to remote learning after Thanksgiving break.

Elsewhere in St. Clair County, other school districts are opting for full remote learning for between the holidays. Belleville 118, Belleville Township High School 201 and O’Fallon 203 have already announced their plans for remote learning. East St. Louis 189 has done remote learning all semester, but recently announced the district would sending staff home to work remotely.

In addition to increased positive cases, the metro-east has seen a declining number of available hospital beds. The three-day rolling average rate for availability of regular hospital beds in Region 4 was 16% on Sunday, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

This story was originally published November 23, 2020 at 12:39 PM.