She said school staffing shortages due to illness have been eased somewhat in that so many students are also missing days of school. Jordan Appelberg, the president of Okaloosa County's Florida Education Association branch, said the teachers union is trying to monitor the COVID situation, but home testing has made it difficult to keep accurate numbers. And a request has been made to local school districts to add two days to the end of the school year to compensate for those lost due to the shutdown. The number of staff illnesses had dropped to two at Okaloosa Academy after the holiday, Sansom said. holiday, Sansom said the two days the academies shut down allowed for "an extensive COVID cleaning" at both schools. With a long weekend thanks to the Martin Luther King Jr. "We have to think of their safety first and foremost." "We didn't feel it was safe for the staff and the students," he said. Sansom said a little more than half of the 19 who make up staffs at the two schools were out, primarily due to COVID-19. "We actually closed school because half the staff was sick," said Ray Sansom, the executive director of the schools. The toll on school staff was so high that week at Okaloosa Academy and Walton Academy, two charter schools run by the Radar Group, that administrators decided to close for two days. There were 3,353 cases reported in that week alone, a 75% increase from the week before.įor the same time period, Walton County reported 886 new cases, representing a 54.6% increase from the previous week. 9-15 was particularly bad in Okaloosa County. "District level staff have also been in schools providing help where needed, and I believe that we will begin to see a downward trend in COVID-19 cases soon.”Īlthough there are some signs that the omicron variant may have peaked in Florida and new infections have begun to drop off, the week of Jan. “I am continually amazed by our teachers, administrators, and support professionals who keep our schools flourishing despite the latest increase in COVID-19 cases," he said in a statement issued last Friday. School Superintendent Marcus Chambers applauded the resilience of the county's educators. Okaloosa County Deputy Superintendent Steve Horton said January absences in years prior to 2020 tended to run between 50 and 60. Still, it's a hint of the impact COVID is having when this year's numbers are compared to instructional absences for this time of year pre-coronavirus. Local team deployed: Eglin AFB team deployed to Arizona hospital to help with COVID-19 patientsĪll the absences cannot be attributed to COVID-19, and district numbers also factor in teachers who stay home to tend to sick family members. ![]() 11) on list where coronavirus spreads fastest Okaloosa County COVID-19 numbers: COVID cases fall as Florida ranks 37 (from No.
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