Despite a shorter week due to the Labor Day weekend, there are seven more reported COVID-19 cases in Alachua County Public Schools.
In addition to more cases, including the first two reported at a high school, families are encouraged to address issues with school district-provided laptops at their zoned schools. ACPS also added a fleet of new school buses and announced merit scholarship semifinalists.
The Alachua County Public School District now has 22 active COVID-19 cases as of Friday. Ten of the cases are from teachers, 11 are from students and one is of a district employee.
Since Aug. 17, there have been 11 student cases and 11 staff cases of the virus, according to the dashboard. ACPS’ COVID-19 dashboard is a rarity in Florida as school districts, like Orange County, were told they couldn’t release information about cases in schools for confidentiality reasons.
Since Florida schools reopened starting in August, positive COVID-19 cases in Florida children jumped up by 34%. There are also renewed fears as a few teachers around the country have died from COVID-19 since the school year began.
Two positive student cases are at Eastside High School as well as student cases at Kanapaha and Fort Clarke Middle Schools, according to the ACPS’ COVID-19 dashboard. There are also active student cases at Foster, Idylwild, Irby, Littlewood, Terwilliger and Wiles Elementary Schools.
Two staff cases were reported at Bishop and Fort Clarke Middle Schools, according to the dashboard.
In the first five days of school, teachers called in sick. About 10 called in on Monday, nine on Tuesday, 11 on Wednesday, 15.5 on Thursday and 20.5 on Friday, said ACPS spokesperson Jackie Johnson.
In light of the national teacher shortage, there are currently 24 classroom teacher vacancies, Johnson said. She added that ACPS is faring better than other school districts across the nation.
Johnson confirmed there were two Zoom bombings, or situations where people disrupt a video call, last week. Teachers in those classrooms were told to implement waiting rooms to avoid similar incidents moving forward. The district hasn’t determined who carried out the expletive-ridden interruption.
Issues with laptops not working continue, but Johnson said families should check in with their zoned schools to address any issues. She added that reported issues with logging into accounts have dropped.
The district added a fleet of 40 new buses and hopes to add 40 more, according to a press release released from the school district. The buses cost almost $9 million. It also began constructing a new, unnamed elementary school in southwest Gainesville to address overcrowding in west Alachua County schools.
ACPS also congratulated 29 National Merit Scholarship Program semifinalists, according to a different release from the school district.
